I Gotcher Dialog Right Here
Eduardo...:
The school officials told me that I could not resign but that I would be fired if I did not withdraw my request. I said no.
At a compulsory meeting of faculty and students, I was denounced as a traitor and expelled.
I was kept in limbo — unable to leave, unable to work — for two years.
Then, in 1971, security forces came to my house. I was charged with ‘vagrancy’ and taken at gunpoint to a forced labor camp 50 miles outside of Havana.
For six weeks, my wife and children had no idea what had become of me.
I was made to work in the fields from dawn to dusk. We had little food and what we had was disgusting.
I stole potatoes and corn from the fields and ate them raw.
I ate grass and plant leaves for fiber and vitamins.
When a knife fight broke out in the food line, the man ahead of me was stabbed many times.
In the commotion, I stepped over his body and ate two servings of food.
That was a good day.
..., I'd like you to meet
Bob, mushy-left dilettante from Coon Rapids:
Then the revolution came, bringing with it such things as land reform and educational opportunity. Today, Cubans are entitled to a free postsecondary education. Cuba has the highest literacy rate and the lowest infant mortality rate in Latin America. It also provides its citizens with a level of medical care that would be the envy of many in this country.
My hope for the Cuban people is that they alone decide the course of their nation after Castro. My fear is that the U.S. government and corporate America will take it upon themselves to fill the gap -- leaving this beautiful island and its dignified inhabitants as a puppet state ripe for political and economic exploitation.
Discuss, please.
Posted by Mitch at
August 9, 2006 12:27 PM
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His letter reminds me of a certain "Tom Hood" from the Strib BBS, where I was a frequent poster in the automotive and 2nd Amendment threads before I discovered blogs. Mr. Hood was Fidelio's biggest cheerleader during the Elian Gonzalez atrocity. His favorite phrase to throw out was "Tonight, not a single Cuban child shall go, to sleep without a roof over his head and a hot meal."
*B*uncombe *S*upreme!
I just can't believe how ignorant? No...deluded and blindered, (and I'll give the less educated ones "naive") Castro's supporters are, that they can even THINK to claim how wonderful life is in Havana. It's so wonderful that the vast majority of cars are from the 50's and 60's because they can't afford anything more modern. If it was SO wonderful, how do you explain the over 1 million strong Miami-Cuban community that FLED his country, risked life and limb to escape? That doesn't include Elian's mother and probably 10's or 100's of thousands of others who perished during their raft rides over. There are no refugees from America trying to sneak OUT of America and make it into Cuba, ya know, afraid that Bush will drag them, kicking and screaming, back to this country and lock them up in some secret detention camp for a decade or more.
In a broader sense, if communism is SO wonderful, why must they all build walls (political and physical) to keep their population trapped inside?
(It barked at me for posting "go two" -w)
Posted by: Bill C at August 9, 2006 02:12 PMJust for the record, America's literacy statistics are skewed negative by our large non-english-speaking immigrant (legal and illegal) population. Cuba doesn't have that problem since people only want to move out of there.
Posted by: Eric Beltt at August 9, 2006 05:03 PMAC, you continue to amaze. Colleen's excellent comment wasn't addressing commie dictators motivations, only their sympathizers.
Perhaps you are a bit too quick to confuse the two.
Posted by: JonM in MN at August 10, 2006 12:27 PMActually, AC would make a good poster boy for the adolescent left. Always crackin' wise and as ignorant as the day is long.
Posted by: Colleen at August 10, 2006 12:36 PMNo, he's just confused and not too quick.
Posted by: Eracus at August 10, 2006 12:36 PMGee Scary Colleen, how exactly does that work? Do Democrats all have parents who are Republicans? Cause it wouldn't exactly be adolescent rebellion to follow in the old man's footsteps, right? Seems to me, if you wanted to rebel against a Dad who votes Democrat, you'd become a scary right-wing kook. Don't tell me: your father voted for FDR? Wilson? Jackson?
Posted by: angryclown at August 10, 2006 12:48 PMEight words, Perfesser? I'm disappointed. If you can't think of anything else to bloviate on, maybe you could favor us with selections from your GED dissertation.
Posted by: angryclown at August 10, 2006 12:51 PMThe hits keep comin' from our friend AC. But he warned us, so we shouldn't be surprised. He is angry, and he is a clown.
Back on topic. When all these positive stats are cited re: Cuba, I never see the source. Is it the regime itself? I think they're about as reliable as those `elections' where Castro/Sadaam etc got 100%.
Posted by: JonM in MN at August 10, 2006 01:08 PMAt least I have a GED, clown, while you've been cheeking your Haldol again, I see. Remember what happened the last time...
Posted by: Eracus at August 10, 2006 02:25 PMI've said it before, I'll say it again. AC is a Blog Comment version of Gary Busey in the movie Carny. He just thinks he's waterproof.
Posted by: Kermit at August 10, 2006 02:52 PMJon - those stats may come from a CIA publication, The World Fact Book, or possibly the UN.
For example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate
Posted by: Fulcrum at August 10, 2006 02:56 PMFulcrum - pay attention. Such reports as the ones you cited depend almost entirely on the nations involved submitting their own data. From the literacy link you gave: "Because definitions and data collection methods vary across countries, literacy estimates should be used with caution."
So, yeah, it's pretty fair to assume the authenticity of the statistics cited.
Steve
Posted by: SteveM at August 10, 2006 09:21 PM