July 31, 2007

¿Un Ano Sin Castro o Un Castro Sin Ano?

Believe It...

... Or Not

It don't really matter to me, baby,
You believe what you want to believe,
You don't have to live like a refugee.
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
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So Little Raulito got up on the podium in Camaguey on July 26 and told his subjects that things in Cuba sucked because they were inefficient, lazy thieves and that if they mended their ways, soon there would be milk for everybody just like there used to be back in the middle of last century.

But his speech was mostly propaganda bait for the foreign press. He once again offered the United States a hook-laden “Olive Branch” provided they too would mend their wicked, wicked ways.

And of course, the press is swallowing the olive branch-bait, hook, line and sinker.

Today in the Palm Beach Post we have an editorial:

Base a new Cuba policy on reality, not belief

The editors of PBP “believe” that current US policy towards Cuba hinged on the belief that chaos would engulf Cuba after Fidel Castro’s death and since Castro hasn’t died but in reality successfully handed power to his younger brother, it’s time to make a deal with Raul.

Excerpt:

Perhaps more disappointing than the lack of change on the island is the intransigence of U.S. policy toward it. The Bush administration was wedded permanently to embargo politics when the hard-line exile vote helped to give the president Florida, and the Oval Office, in the disputed 2000 election. The policy of economic sanctions, which for more than four decades has failed to shift the balance of power in Cuba, is less important to the administration than maintaining the GOP's balance of power in Florida. Making life even harder on the Cuban people, and their relatives in Florida, has become the acceptable price of catering to political bases.

After all, the editorial continues,

China has a human rights record at least as deplorable as Cuba's during the past three decades, but much of the U.S. economy runs on imports from China and purchases by China's central bank of America's debt. And not even the most anti-Castro congressmen suggest a Cuba-like policy for China.

I like it when relativists, who don’t really believe in anything – thus their infatuation with Castro- throw reality out there as if reality was an objective and concrete “thing” that they haven’t subjectively interpreted through their own belief system.

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So let’s examine the reality that the Palm Beach Post Editorial board chooses to “believe”

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Raul Castro wants to sincerely wants negotiate :

No. They will not negotiate or give an inch not now, not ever, because they have nothing to loose by mainting their position and holding the Cuban population hostage. You see, they believe in power and will not voluntarily give any of it up. They will never sit down with the US until the US suspends the sanctions commonly referred to as the “embargo.” –Until the US capitulates and accepts their position. “Believing” otherwise requires and act of Faith.

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What works with China, will Work with Cuba:

China would have never opened its doors to the outside world under Mao, neither will Cuba under the Castros. The US managed, through commerce, to introduce the free markets into China, where there is now – gasp!- private property, McDonald’s and freaking WalMarts, something that obviously turns the stomachs of the egalitarian MSM “journalists”.

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The American economy, does not need Cuba. It has functioned and grown very well without Cuba’s help, thank you very much.

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Negotiating with Raul now, would just legitimize his despotic regime and allow him to continue to hold the Cuban people as hostages. Perhaps the editors at The Palm Beach Post believe that having their slave laborers only a few miles away would enrich their lives by providing cheap rum and cigars for their parties in Boca and West Palm Beach.

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And…as far as those hated, hard-line exiles driving US policy:

… Simply a Cubanophobic Myth. If that were the case, the Marines would have landed in Havana 35-40 years ago and this blog, this post and the PBP editorial wouldn’t exist, and neither would most of South Florida…

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… Or at least, that’s what I believe.


It don't make no difference to me, baby,
Everybody's had to fight to be free,
You see you don't have to live like a refugee.
(Don't have to live like a refugee)

Chief Justice Roberts Suffers Seizure

..and Mr. and Mrs. Gusano get into heated dinner time debate on whether the Chief Justice had a Patatún or a Sirimba?

Colossal Joke?

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, 1883

"We will continue to aggressively patrol the waters surrounding Florida and we ill interdict people trying to illegally enter the United States from the sea. Those who have violated laws will be held accountable in a court of law."

Lt. j.g. Eric Pare, a Coast Guard duty officer July 2007

The huddled masses in Cuba are not allowed to leave Cuba legally. There's no legal way for a slave to leave his master, for a prisoner to leave his prison. Are we going to pretend that Cubans who want to leave Cuba can go into the AIS and ask for a visa out of the blue and be "allowed" to leave?

Let's be clear, to leave Cuba, if you don't want to, or you can't ask permission and open yourself up the repercussions, you have to-you are forced-to do it illegally. You have to risk your life to escape. That's why it's "escape".

Once you successfully escape the island prison, the folks, whose ideals you love so much that you're willing to risk your life for, call you a migrant and send you back to prison because you didn't make it all the way to shore-some cruel and perverse joke. Should you make to shore , you magically become a refugee-an exile, with all the rights and privileges that comes with membership.

Has the inscription on the Mother of Exiles that invites the homeless, tempest-tost to be free and welcomes them to help build the greatest nation in the world become a colossal joke or is the Wet Foot/Dry Foot law making a mockery and a farce out of the inscription on the Lady in the Harbor, Mother of Exiles, the Beacon of Hope and Freedom for mankind?

I don't know about anybody else but every time I see that those who risk their lives and their children's lives to breathe free are return to slavery and repression, it makes me worry that perhaps America has lost a little of its moral compass because the Mother of Exiles can no longer tell the difference between someone who is yearning to breathe free and someone who wants to freely make a buck. And while the latter is not wrong, it is very different from the former.

More on Ms Liberty at Black Sheep of Exile!. Different Circumstances, same conclusion.

Got Milk?

There was little Raul.

After a year on the throne and pretty much hiding and desperately trying to maintain the status quo, he looks around and sees a country laid to waste by bad decisions and mismanagement. And he speaks of “structural changes.”

His family has been calling the shots now for 50 years. They are the structure. They are the system. Amen to that. Let’s have structural changes. Let’s get a new structure.

His structural changes: more sacrifice. You see, he wants more foreign investments “without repeating the mistakes of the past”. This means that unlike in pre-Castro Cuba, investors will not be able to hire Cubans and exploit them. No that’s the purpose of the structure. Cubans will work for and be exploited by the structure, Castro.

Yet it’s the workers who must bring Cuba out of the now prolonged “especial period” by working harder, more efficiently and not stealing-more sacrifice. As if all the failures and shortages and shortcomings were caused by the Cuban worker – who by the way, do perfectly well in free market economies, and not the structure (that needs changing-presumably por que esta cagada).

And the reward for this sacrifice-Milk.

Is it me or is everyone in the Castro family suffer from some kind of bovine fixation.

The Day It Started

El Veintiséis de Julio. The Twenty-Sixth of July

The day that started my deep rooted and irrational aversion to red, black and olive green, especially when they’re together.

Over at Child Of The Revolution, Luis M. Garcia informs us that Reuters is reporting “Rumors” about some new privileges King Castro II may bestow on his subjects to commemorate the beginning of the blood and hate fueled 26th of July Revolutionary Movement that went on to destroy the Island and enslave its people:

Rumors are circulating that Raul will parcel out state land to farmers, allow Cubans to open more small business, stay at tourist hotels, acquire cell phones and freely buy and sell their cars and homes.

And why make changes to Paradise?

The “Paradisians” expect changes. That’s why. People expected that once Castro I was out of the way, the new more pragmatic Castro II, would ease the grip and allow the Cubans to breath a little. But although the succession seems to have gone off without a hitch, Castro I has hung around way too long, casting a nefarious shadow over Castro II’s reign. This shadow is making it progressively more difficult for Raul to govern and making the people ever more impatient. Trouble in Paradise.

So anyway, Reuter’s is reporting “rumors”. Official Rumors as opposed to the Official Lies they usually parrot.

Rumors. Rumors… Rumors of Freedom…

Now here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well who am I to keep you down
It's only right that you should
Play the way you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound
Of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat.. drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost...
And what you had...
And what you lost

Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Say... Women... they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean... you'll know

Now here I go again, I see the crystal visions
I keep my visions to myself
It's only me
Who wants to wrap around your dreams and...
Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness...
Like a heartbeat... drives you mad...
In the stillness of remembering what you had...
And what you lost...
And what you had...
And what you lost

Rumors … I love that Album.

Too bad for Cuba, it’s the same ol song we’ve heard before-The broken record of lies and empty promises of the Twenty Sixth of July.

The Eerie Calm Of The Last 365 Days

Tomorrow is the high holy day of Cuban Commie-dom.

Cuba’s blogger in chief is either too busy writing his reflections or too sick to attend the official celebrations which will be lead by his brother Raul.

Though you may get depressed that Fidel has been able to cheat the reaper for a year, enjoy that the once omnipotent dictator has been relegated to playing the part of the track suit clad mascot and cheerleader of his own “revolution” with one foot in the grave and the other in the trash heap of history. At least Guevara died with his boots on.

Other than the adulating foreign press few will be nostalgic for Castro’s multi-hour speeches so the only winners tomorrow will be the Cubans that will be spared the traditional mid-summer day sermon.

This past year, though frustrating, has had the feel of the proverbial calm before the storm. And a storm is a coming.

Change a Few Words ....

Well, I built me a raft and shes ready for floatin
Ol Miami, shes callin my name
Catfish are jumpin
That paddle wheel thumpin
Black water keeps rollin on past just the same

Old black water, keep on rollin
Miami moon, wont you keep on shinin on me
Old black water, keep on rollin
Miami moon, wont you keep on shinin on me
Old black water, keep on rollin
Miami moon, wont you keep on shinin on me
Yeah, keep on shinin your light
Gonna make everything, pretty mama
Gonna make everything all right
And I aint got no worries
cause I aint in no hurry at all

Out For The Count For Good?

Sports Illustrated is reporting that two Cuban Boxers Guillermo Rigondeaux (R) and Erislandy Lara (L) failed to attend their scheduled fights at the Pan Am Games.

Pedro Roque, coach and chief of Cuba's boxing delegation, learned about the boxer's absence Sunday morning, but would not comment on whether they had deserted.

"Everything is possible in life," he said.

Maybe that's why Castro was glued to the TV. He looking for "his" missing athletes.

I'm sure they'll show up on Miami TV next week.

Lizard Pool Party

It's the weekend and there's not all that much going on Cuba-wise other than the MSM falling all over themselves to tell us that Cuba's Dictator Emeritus is glued to the TV watching something called the Pan American Games. I thought Pan-Am went out of business years ago ... Anyway why didn't Castro become a sports-watching couch potato(e) earlier. It might have saved a lot of us a lot of grief.

I'm not sure how may of the 10 readers I get here a day have been following the Cuban unwanted species saga, but I found out that the Cuban Tree Frog and the Cuban Brown Anole, like me, are not wanted in Florida because they are more aggressive than the native population and take over the habitat.

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No that I know that the frogs and the lizards in back yard are practically family, hell I threw a party for them.

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The frogs are night owls so they didn't come but me and the Brown Anoles had a grand ol' time.

Here are some candid shots of my friends feasting on flying giant ants:

One of the Lizards, Larry, is working in pest control ridding the yard of unwanted insects:

Now, how do I know these are Cuban lizards, you ask? Well, here's the proof:

We had to cut the party short because it started to pour. That woke the Cuban Tree Frogs up and I hear them outside playing a Guaguancó.
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Those Noisy Cubans! There ought to be a law..oh wait there is...

Monster in the Trees

Several years ago we noticed this frightening green, ugly, nasty, miniature iguana-like thing in our back yard.

It was usually sitting motionless and once you went near it it would stare you down and either start doing push-ups or disappear in a green blur.

I looked all over the Internet to find a picture of this mini-dinosaur, but I did not find anything ressembling our Garden Godzilla.

One day I was walking on a path between two palm trees and the thing ran up my leg, across my chest and jumped to the other palm tree. I didn't scream like a girl and run around in a circle trying to get the dinosaur off of me, (I save that for when a palmetto bug lands on my head), but I was determined to find out what this monstrous lizard was.

And the other day, while reading about the Cuban Brown Anole, who is terrorizing Florida, I found a picture of the monster that's been terrorizing me all these years.

It turns out, that like me it's another export from the Pearl of the Antilles, the Cuban Knight Anole. We're practically Family!

Some this morning I put on some Cuban music and went outside to commune with my green Cuban friend. I decided to name him Lazaro. Lazaro Lagarto,but he was nowhere to be found.

What's Janet Reno doing these days anyway?

The Unfriendly Skies

The skies are unfriendly today.

I have a thunderhead sitting on top of my house preventing me from dipping into the 92 degree water in the pool.

But the Sun will reappear .... eventually... meanwhile the Cuban Tree Frogs are scrambling to make sure their webbed little feet don't get wet lest they suffer the same fate as these paisans.

The unfriendly skies will get a lot unfriendlier for some Spaniards. Iberia, the Spanish Flag Carrier, is on the sale block and the leading contender to buy the airline out is a company out of Texas called TPG.






Now if an American company owns Iberia that means no more Spain-Cuba flights for Iberia. He,He,Helms Burton...

Shucks! How are all those old Spaniards going to get to Cuba to take advantaged of our impoverished young girls?

Sorry, gotta go ... the Sun is coming out!

Another Refugee "Success" Story

Since yesterday's Cuban Tree Frog post, it has been pointed out to me that the Cuban Tree Frog is not the only feared invader, other than refugees, in Florida.

There's also the little Cuban Brown Anole.

The Cuban Brown Anole is wreaking havoc in Floridian backyards and replacing the native green anole as the dominant species. This is, of course, of great concern to scientists who have all sorts of papers and studies on the subject. Perhaps a classic case of "green flight"?

Apparently the Cuban Brown Anoles snuck into Florida bringing their foreign customs and lifestyle with them and thus throwing the eco-lizard balance into chaos. I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard the Cuban Anoles are much louder, wear flashier lizard skins, and play louder music than the native lizards. They also told me that the brown lizards roast their insect victims in little boxes before they eat them, further contributing to the demise of the planet's ecological system by increasing carbon emissions.

There are no plans right now for legislation to stop this unwanted and dangerous migration or any task forces to prevent any mass brown migrations, but this can change.

Cubanofrogia?

Refugees from Castrolandia are invading the US and the natives are restless.

It seems the alien life-forms are taking over and the Cubanophobia usually reserved for balseros is now spreading to the animal kingdom and the Sunshine state is now in the grips of Cubanofrogia.

The newest threat to The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave is the Cuban Tree Frog.

Have you felt as if someone were watching you, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there? That's not as odd as you might think. Lately, more big eyes have been watching us, but they don't belong to a who. They belong to a what: Cuban tree frogs.

The paranoia knows no bounds.

``It's a high price, but it's the price of liberty.''

Amado Veloso was born in 1971 , a true child of Castro’s Revolution.

He received his “free” education and was taught to be like Che – The New Man

But, like most everything in the misbegotten plans of Castro Inc., the New Man failed to materialize.

The perfect beast of collectivism, submission and hatred envisioned by unholy trio of Fidel, Che and Raul, turned into a Cuban.

Cubans will give an arm and a leg to be free.

Amado Veloso gave both his legs and 15 years of his life in a struggle to reach freedom.

Many have given it all and failed.

“When I look at it from afar, I feel it was worth it,'' he said of his odyssey. ``It's a high price, but it's the price of liberty.''

The Right To Remain Silent ...

It's the only "right" they have in Cuba.

OUCH!

Will Cuba Policy BUC(k)L(e) Spain's Zapatero Government?

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Spanish Foreign Policy Hits Rocks Over Cuba
From the desk of Soeren Kern

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his political spin doctors have been especially busy this summer. Indeed, they have been making furious rounds on the national television talk show circuit, trying to explain to an increasingly skeptical Spanish public just why the Socialist government’s “progressive” foreign policy of coddling third world despots has turned Spain into one of the most marginalized countries in the European
Union.

Very Worthwhile Read Here

Happy Monday

Happy Monday!

We’re coming up on the one year anniversary of when Castro bust a gut, and he has settled into his new role as Blogger in Chief quite nicely.

Castro, however, must not be happy with his visit count and his blog probably isn’t linked to as much as he would like, so he has decide to join the cool kids in an attempt to get noticed.

He’s now trying to appeal to wider audience by Bush Bashing or maybe he's just tired and is taking the easy way out.

In his latest, he “samples “the ideas of the American Left and accuses W of deliberately allowing terrorists acts to happen on purpose to “justify the brutal war which has been declared against the culture, religion, economy and independence of other peoples.”

This is a good move almost garanteed to get his “refelction” mentioned in the press.

He goes on to blame Bush for plundering the medical talent of third world countries and of not sending doctors to serve in poor countries like Cuba does. Another great move, but way too wordy.

Castro has a real mental block when it comes to free will.

The United States, a country ruled by the rule of laws and thankfully not by George Bush’s whims cannot force American doctors to work in other countries as indentured servants with their families held hostage like Castro does.

If El Comandante wants to make it as a blogger, he’s going to have to step up the personal attacks on Bush, make his entries shorter, use smaller words and lots of pictures. His target audience is the left, after all.

No Entiendo ni Papa

When I was like 15 or thereabouts I went to see “Chinatown” at the old “Tony” theater on Summit Avenue in Union City, NJ.

In one of the most famous scenes in moviedom, Jack Nicholson is trying to get the truth out of Faye Dunaway about her “sister” Dunaway says "She's my daughter [slap] ...my sister [slap] ... She's my daughter [slap] ... my sister [slap]. She's my sister and my daughter!"

I was very confused.

Now I’m feeling like I’m watching a rerun.

Every time the administration gets slapped with a question about Cuba , it gives a seemingly different answer.

Earlier this week, Condoleezza Rice, (yes, it’s spelled with two z’s and btw, what’s the plural of z? zzz..i know if you’re still reading I’m putting you to sleep), was reported to say that the “US will not tolerate the transition from one dictator to another in Cuba” .

And yet just last February, Mike McConnell , the then brand spanking new director of National Intelligence, said that "In Cuba, this year will mark the end of the long domination of that country by Fidel Castro,"

BUT:

McConnell, who did not explain his remark, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that significant positive change immediately after Fidel Castro's death was unlikely. He said Raul Castro has had the opportunity to solidify his control in the seven months since his brother's incapacitating illness last July.

[Slap]

No succession [slap]..the succession already happened [slap]

But back to “Chinatown”:

So when I’m in my 20’s, I’m watching TV and Chinatown is on and I confess I'm only watching in anticipation of Nicholson getting his nose sliced open. Only this time, when Dunaway gets the truth slapped out of her, I get it. And I feel like Edith Bunker saying “Oh I get it, Archie!”

So maybe in ten years or so I’ll have another Edith Bunker moment and get it because frankly, right now, I just don’t.

Friday Fast in Support of Cuban Disidents

Put down that pastelito. Don't eat that donut. Don't touch that pan con mantequilla. Don't even think about a torreja. Feel your stomach grumble a little. Feel your tripas bacias. And think. Piensalo bien.




The guy in the picture, Gaunt and Gandhiesque but with eyes full of fire and hope did it for SEVEN months, Siete Meses. You can do it for a couple of hours. Let him know his sacrifice wasn't forgotten or in vain.

El Cafe Cubano

The Blogging "Critic" *** Updated ***

The blogging Bastard is at it again.

And, at the risk of turning this blog into one of those “Contrary Mary” blogs whose only purpose is to criticize other bloggers like an obsessed schoolgirl turned cyber-stalker when spurned by her cyber-crush, I’ll once again reluctantly address some of the bastard's comments if only to shed a little light on how his reflections reveal his real feelings about Cuba and its people.

And it’s difficult because one has to actually read his “reflections” seriously.

*** OOOPS! Most of this post was missing. ***

Here's how it was supposed to read.

This time, blogging in Granma, the Dictator Emeritus engages in “Cuba’s self criticism”. As if he and his regime and all his failed policies where Cuba.

In another example of his elitist disdain for his fellow Cubans, he begins one paragrapgh :

“Nowadays we have taken higher education to the “masses”. The “Masses” not the Cuban citizens or fellow countrymen, but the “masses”. Maybe he was alluding to the long forgotten inscription on the Statue of Liberty about the huddled masses yearning to free …

He later talks about “ irritating inequalities and privileges”.

What Fidel finds irritating is that by hook or by crook, some of his slaves have managed to carve some economic freedom out for themselves by using the rules of his tropical feudal system against it. Very irritating indeed for the tyrant who must ensure that everyone is equally poor, destitute, miserable, terrorized and totally dependent on the slave master for survival.

Ultimately, since in his materialistic ideology, he continues to measure Cubans by what they have in their pockets rather than by what they have in their hearts, the only solution that he can come up with will be to strip the “wealth” of those who are more equal than the others to make everyone equally poor.

Rulers, even despots, who have some interest in the welfare of their people, would try to create some wealth and prosperity, but that is out of the question in Castro’s Cuba since his only interest is total and absolute power over Cubans and keeping them destitute, isolated and hungry is one of the strongest weapons in his oppressive arsenal.

Sending an S.O.S. to the World

The BUCL efforts this week in South Florida leave no doubt that Sting and the Police are aware of the Human Rights abuses occurring in Cuba.

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I hope that they decide to reclaim their mantle as Human Rights activists and help expose Castro's Totalitarian Regime for what it is.

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Our cause would certainly welcome their support.

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But either way, we will continue to fight to give a voice to those that the regime has tried to silence and shed light on the truth.

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La Contra Revolucion joined the BUCL campaign with some reluctance and plenty of skepticism.

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Shame on me, since when a friend who was at the concert last night mentioned the banner, I was able to proudly say that I had helped sponsered the banner. Of course, they didn't believe me and laughed it off.

Castro '08?

Yeah , But which one?

My apologies for the recent light blogging , But …

Other than the Adidas Tracksuit-clad dictator emeritus writing 6,000 word political philosophy freshman term papers (yawn) about the United States’ democratic evolution or the age old East /West animosity among Cubans or the omnipresent Castro apologists, nothing too terribly exiting is being reported on Cuba these days.

The proverbial calm before the storm?

Who Knows?

But there are some interesting cloud formations that may develop…

… or maybe not.

Raul’s Legitimization?

Last night after getting home form the BUCL candle-light vigil, where Henry put me on photographer duty to mercifully spare the camera a cracked lens, (no chance of me getting in front of the lens if I was behind it), I found some interesting tidbits.

First off, Reuters informs us that Raul has “decreed” municipal elections. This begins a process to “elect” a dictator. They have unanimously always picked Fidel.

The article speculates that this time, the resulting National Assembly could pick Raul as the new dictator, thus legitimizing his reign and completing the succession.

I found the article’s wording refreshing. First it says that Raul “decreed” the elections, correctly alluding to his tyranny. Secondly it describes the Cuban National Assembly like this:

Cuba is a one-party state. Candidates to the assemblies do not have to be card-holding members of the Communist Party, but they usually are.

The 603-seat National Assembly is a rubber-stamp parliament which meets only twice a year for a day or so. Its members include Cuba's only cosmonaut, its most famous folk singer, its most successful painter and the country's TV weatherman.

The response to this news was quick but vague:

US will not tolerate the transition from one dictator to another in Cuba, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said, according to Spanish news agency EFE.

Rice, of course, did not go into details as to what form the American “intolerance” would take.

And so it goes...


The US with all its eggs in the biological solution basket and the tropical Taliban running vicious circles around them.

Oh well, the stale winds of stability and the status quo may be clearing those clouds on the horizon after all. I think I can almost hear someone in the State Department saying “You know, Raul is 76, he’s not going to live forever.” “We’ll just wait till HE dies and then we’ll put our plan in place!”

Candlelight Vigil

There's My Soul Up There

There's a little black spot on the sun today
It's the same old thing as yesterday
There's a black hat caught in a high tree top
There's a flag-pole rag and the wind won't stop

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running 'round my brain
I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign
But it's my destiny to be the king of pain

There's a little black spot on the sun today
(There`s my soul up there)
It's the same old thing as yesterday
(There`s my soul up there)
There's a blue whale beached by a springtide's ebb
(There`s my soul up there)
There's a butterfly trapped in a spider's webb
(There`s my soul up there)

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running 'round my brain
I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign
But it's my destiny to be the king of pain

There's a fossil that's trapped in a high cliff wall
(There`s my soul up there)
There's a dead salmon frozen in a waterfall
(There`s my soul up there)
There's a blue whale beached by a springtide's ebb
(There`s my soul up there)
There's a butterfly trapped in a spider's web
(There`s my soul up there)

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running 'round my brain
I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign
But it's my destiny to be the king of pain

There's a king on a throne with his eyes torn out
There's a blind man looking for a shadow of doubt
There's a rich man sleeping on a golden bed
There's a skeleton choking on a crust of bread

King of pain

There's a red fox torn by a huntsman's pack
(There`s my soul up there)
There's a black-winged gull with a broken back
(There`s my soul up there)
There's a little black spot on the sun today
It's the same old thing as yesterday

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running 'round my brain
I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign
But it's my destiny to be the king of pain

king of pain
king of pain
king of pain
I'll always be king of pain...

King Of Pain
Sting & Police

How Quaint.

I have sarcastically called Castro’s Cuba a “totalitarian amusement park” in the past since unless I’m talking to a Cuban or someone who has gone out of their way to search for the truth all I hear is tales of marvels about a quaint place with old cars, no Mc Donald’s and friendly people.

But it’s not an amusement park. It’s more like a theme park where tourists from all over the world can go and experience feeling superior and marvel at the quaint surroundings that seem stuck in a 50’s time capsule.

The regime has decided to cater to these quaintness seekers by opening “boutique hotels”.

For example, take British executives Julie Connery, 37, and Richard Foster, 40. According to the Sun Sentinel article these two

visited Cuba to experience one of the world's last socialist nations and would gladly return.

they asked to stay an extra night after a week at the art nouveau-style Hotel Raquel in colonial Havana, but staff said the room rate would double: The new reservation did not come through their travel agency. The couple moved out, disappointed that managers would not accommodate them at the same rate."They just haven't bought into customer service,"

"They're friendly. But whereas in the United Kingdom it seems as if everyone is aspiring to be the CEO, here it's just a job."

Friendly little brown colonials -friendly but lazy. That’s why Fidel has to provide everything for them, like children. They haven’t “bought into” that whole work ethic thing yet.

How quaint.

Where There's Smoke.....

There were fireworks.

It was really "foggy" in Broward County this morning:

just a Fourth of July "Hangover".

Somewhere in Cuba......

No, this is NOT Key Biscayne.

CB?

The Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday.

Nothing to buy. Nothing to cook. Just a day to relax and celebrate the best thing of all:
Freedom.

When I tell folks that the fourth is my favorite holiday, I usually get interrogated. “How about Christmas?” “How about Thanksgiving”

And I tell them: “Without the Fourth of July, we may not have these other great holidays”.

Quizzical and incredulous looks quickly follow.

But that’s alright, I ought to know, I hail from an island where they cancelled Christmas.

So take it from me, the birth of the United States and the ideals of individual freedoms and responsibilities that resulted and their spread throughout the planet are certainly something to celebrate with your family and friends.

Here’s a little something to get you in the mood.




In the meantime, I’ll be poolside celebrating the Fourth and playing homage to the 21st Amendment.

Taking it All for Granted.....

As God is my Witness ....

I'll try to stop taking food for granted

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Anita Snow has finished her self-imposed living like a native exercise in condescension in Havana.

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... And she lost nine whole pounds!

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You Know , Anita, it's not about the food. It's about freedom.

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What you should never take for granted is freedom. That's what you do when you make excuses for the Cuban regime by sugar coating the truth and parroting the myriad of excuses the regime spouts off to cover up their oppression and ineptitude.

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Freedom to choose if you want to opt out in Castro's primative "Deal-a-Meal" libreta diet.

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She also claims that:

A big papaya costs more than a day's wages.

I'll say!

New Blog

Cuba's Dictator Emiritus and current Blogger in Chief, Fidel Castro, is now on blogging double duty. (I feel his pain). Aside from his Granma "blog" where the ex-comandante reflects on world-issues while ignoring domestic problems, he has now started publishing his views in Juventud Rebelde.

In his latest post over at JR on Sunday, the Adidas Tracksuit clad blogger called the United States a "killing machine". I guess that is opposed to the "love machine" that was comprised of the old Soviet bloc of which Castro was a proud member and proxy, spreading their philosophy of love and tolerance all over the world.

Hillary to the Rescue

You know things are getting bad for Cuban-Americans when Hillary Clinton, Vilma’s Espin’s buddy, has to come to our defense.

Fred Thompson who is kindda like running for President said of the would-be Cuban refugees caught with a wet foot out at sea and condemned to return back to Castro’s tropical concentration camp:

"I don't imagine they're coming here to bring greetings from Castro. We're living in the era of the suitcase bomb."

He He He ... talk about bombs! Kablooie

Funny, I don’t remember any Cuban-bombers being stopped in the high seas recently… or ever.

"I was appalled when one of the people running for or about to run for the Republican nomination talked about Cuban refugees as potential terrorists," Clinton told Hispanic elected officials. "Apparently he doesn't have a lot of experience in Florida or anywhere else, and doesn't know a lot of Cuban-Americans."

Said Mrs. Clinton.

Interestingly, Senator Clinton referred to those attempting to flee the island as refugees. An ironic semantic choice since it was thanks to her husband that the one-time “refugees” became “migrants” when he instituted the wet foot/dry foot policy.

Thanks to that and the Elian travesty, Mrs. Clinton would probably only beat out Fidel , Raul, Janet Reno and her husband in a popularity contest among Cuban Americans.