GINA COBB

The Real Cuba

By DemocracyRules

Here's a good summary of life in Cuba.

As a Canadian, I can travel to Cuba, so I did.  Wonderful people, horrible government.  In a way, I wish Americans could go there, they would quickly see how bad it is.  For me it was a lot like standing on the Berlin wall, looking into George Orwell's worst nightmare on the East Berlin side.

If you go to a place like Cuba as a committed leftist of some sort, strange things begin to happen.  For many leftists, it begins a slow unraveling of their ideology.  Cubans are VERY skinny-- why?  Eleven million people in a lush, abundant tropical country.  But the farms are all collectivized, and Communists get no reward for productive work.

The accompanying story tells of a pensioner trying to get by on a few dollars a month.  If she had access to 200 square feet of soil to plant some potatoes, her life would change completely.  But that is forbidden.

Pro Patria

McCain on Castro: The Straight Talk Express

McCain on Castro (from Don Surber):  “I hope he has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon.”

Fidel Castro is Gone; Communism Remains

Fidel Castro has resigned as Cuba's "president," a landmark day in Cuban history. 

For now, however, Communism remains in Cuba -- the same failed social, economic and political system that continues to bring misery to people in Cuba and wherever it has been tried on earth.

For a system of government that is supposed to be egalitarian, Communism puts far too much power in the hands of the one or the few.  It seems nice in theory, but it's tyrranical and cruel when put into practice.

HAVANA (AP) - An ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he will not accept a new term when parliament meets Sunday.

The end of Castro's rule - the longest in the world for a head of government - frees his 76-year-old brother Raul to implement reforms he has hinted at since taking over as acting president when Fidel Castro fell ill in July 2006. President Bush said he hopes the resignation signals the beginning of a democratic transition.

"My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath," Castro wrote in a letter published Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma. But, he wrote, "it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer."  . . . .

(AP) Cuban President Fidel Castro speaks after he had been re-elected president of the state council... Full Image

By sunrise, most people headed to work in Havana seemed to have heard the news, which they appeared to accept without obvious signs of emotion. There were no tears or smiles as Cubans went about their usual business.

. . . .  Castro temporarily ceded his powers to his brother on July 31, 2006, when he announced that he had undergone intestinal surgery. Since then, the elder Castro has not been seen in public, appearing only sporadically in official photographs and videotapes and publishing dense essays about mostly international themes as his younger brother has consolidated his rule.

There had been widespread speculation about whether Castro would continue as president when the new National Assembly meets Sunday to pick the country's top leadership. Castro has been Cuba's unchallenged leader since 1959 - monarchs excepted, he was the world's longest ruling head of state.

Alan Caruba looks back:  Goodbye, Fidel and Good Riddance

Che Guevara Chic

Read more at Red Planet

Fidel Castro Apparently Still Alive; Cuban Oppression and Poverty Continue

Fidel Castro reportedly voted in a municipal election and appeared on television Sunday:

HAVANA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, voted in Cuba's municipal elections on Sunday, from the clinic where he has been recovering from a 2006 intestinal operation, witnessed by members of the electoral district where he is registered, state television reported.

Castro appeared on television wearing a lightweight white jacket and chatting with the electoral officials and with primary school pupils who look after the ballot boxes.

Castro praised what he described as "the high quality of the two comrades nominated in his constituency" and said the elections represent "a resounding response to the threats of (U.S. President) George Bush."

The U.S. presidency has announced that it will make new statements on Cuba policy this Wednesday.

Castro's younger brother, Raul Castro, has been running the country since July 31 last year, when illness obliged Fidel, 81, to step down.

Castro also reportedly met with Hugo Chavez and spoke live with him on the telephone.

I guess that means the dictator is still alive.  Sure, it remains possible that the latest appearances by Castro could be an elaborate ruse, but it's more likely that Castro has beaten the odds and recovered from the illness that had him in "very grave" condition in January 2007 and then incommunicado for much of the year.

Unforntunately, that means continued Communist oppression and poverty for the people of Cuba.

Oppression remains severe:

Cuba remains the one country in Latin America that represses nearly all forms of political dissent. President Fidel Castro, during his 47 years in power, has shown no willingness to consider even minor reforms. Instead, the Cuban government continues to enforce political conformity using criminal prosecutions, long- and short-term detentions, mob harassment, police warnings, surveillance, house arrests, travel restrictions, and politically-motivated dismissals from employment. The end result is that Cubans are systematically denied basic rights to free expression, association, assembly, privacy, movement, and due process of law.

As for poverty, Cuba's results speak for themselves:

Welcome to Cuba, 44 years into the Revolution that was to industrialize the economy, eradicate hunger and eliminate the gap between rich and poor in this island nation, previously the most prosperous in the Caribbean. Today, the once-muscular Cuban economy is in tatters and its much lauded social safety net a cruel joke. The poor, in reality, are bled to support the lifestyles of the government elite, which lives in luxury - the driveways of the Havana honchos sport Mercedes - while its populace goes hungry.

Some Cubans outside government - increasingly those who obtain patronage positions in the tourist industry, where they receive tips and other payments in U.S. dollars - manage comfortable, if meagre, existences. With dollars, they can shop in the many "dollar" shops, where they can obtain some of the consumer goods, medicines and dairy products that most Cubans, prior to the Revolution, could readily obtain.

The great majority of Cubans, however, are left to fend for themselves in a pitiless system. Most must "do business" to survive, as Cubans put it, because most cannot subsist on the typical wages - the equivalent of about 50 cents a day - that the government sets for them. The old woman at the lunch counter begged for food; other Cubans beg for old clothes or for medicine, or sell peanuts on street corners. Young men sell cigars and other goods in the burgeoning black market; young women sell their bodies in the burgeoning sex trade.

Without dollars, life is grim. People line up at dimly lit government distribution centres, ration books in hand - libretas, the government calls them - for their monthly allocation. The books, which were established in 1962 to "guarantee the equitable distribution of food without privileges for a few," entitle Cubans to 2.5 kilograms of rice, 1 kilogram of fish, 1/2 kilogram of beans, 14 eggs and sundry other basics at subsidized prices. Through the libreta, each Cuban also gets one bread roll a day. Every two months, a Cuban is entitled to one bar of hand soap and one bar of laundry soap. Fresh fruits and vegetables come infrequently; meat might come once or twice a year. Until the mid-1990s, children under seven were entitled to fresh milk, but fresh milk, like butter, cheese and other dairy products, is now off the shelves. Before the revolution, two litres of fresh milk cost 15 U.S. cents, well within the means of the poor.

When will it end?  The only hope some people have is that it will end with Fidel Castro, and hence the preoccupation with the question of whether the dictator is dead, alive, or somewhere inbetween.

Cuban Health Care Better? Only If Cuba Distorts Infant Mortality Data

John Stossel makes short work of Michael Moore's claim that Cuba's socialized health care is superior to America's:

Moore claims Cubans live longer than Americans. It's true that a U.N. report claims that. But the United Nations didn't gather any data. "The United Nations simply reports whatever the government in Cuba reports, so we have no objective way to know what the real statistics are," Carro says.

Exactly. Communist countries are famous for hiding the truth. Twenty years ago, when I reported from the Soviet Union, officials insisted there were no poor people in Russia, but they refused to let me look for myself.

Why would we believe the Cuban government's health statistics?

Cuba claims it has low infant mortality, but doctors tell us that Cuban obstetricians abort a fetus when they think there might be a problem. Dr. Julio Alfonso told us he used to do 70-80 abortions a day. And here's an even more devious way of distorting infant-mortality data: Some doctors tell us that if a baby dies within a few hours of birth, Cuban doctors don't count him or her as ever having lived.

Moore told me: "All the independent health organizations in the world, and even our own CIA, believe that the Cubans have a pretty good health system. And they do, in fact, live longer than we do."

But the CIA does not claim that Cubans live longer than Americans. In fact, the CIA says Americans live longer.

When I pressed Moore, he backed away from the claims his movie makes about Cuba. "Let's stick to Canada and Britain," he said, "because I think these are legitimate arguments that are made against the film and against the so-called idea of socialized medicine. And I think you should challenge me on these things, and I'll give you my answer."

Next week in this column, and this Friday on "20/20," I'll take him up on that challenge.

Fidel Castro: WANTED, Dead or Alive

There's been lots of buzz today that Fidel Castro may be dead.

Cuba's foreign minister says the rumors about Fidel Castro's ill health are untrue.

Notably, the denial does not come from Castro himself.

He used to be quite the chatterbox.

What do you think?  Here's my analysis:

New Video of Glasgow Airport Immediately After the Attack, and What It Means

Little Green Footballs has the best video I've seen yet of the immediate aftermath of the Glasgow bombing attack, including the capture of the two attackers and the race to prevent the explosion of the burning jeep.  Here it is:

The video gives a much better sense of the shocking nature of the attack from the point of view of ordinary visitors to the airport.  Put yourself in that airport, minding your own business, and imagine seeing what this video shows.

Now imagine what would have happened if the car had exploded as intended.  This video could have been much worse -- unpublishable, in fact.

This is not the end of the story.  The jihadists will try again and again.  Not only in the U.K., but around the world, jihadists are racing to launch further and more deadly attacks. 

Is the West united in racing to stop them? 

Before You Waste Money on "Sicko"

. . . maybe you'd better read this from Gateway Pundit.

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Tags:  Michael Moore film movie health care healthcare Cuba Cuban

Congressman Who Stashed Cash in Freezer Gets Committee Appointment from House Dems

How bizarre.

Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson, who stashed $90,000 in cash in his freezer and who is facing a federal corruption probe, will get a seat on the Homeland Security Committee.

Do the leaders of the Democractic party in Congress have no shame?

Never mind. 

Their actions speak much louder than words.

AP Distorts a Flawed Poll to Portray Cubans as "Satisfied" With Their "Freedoms"

This story from the AP, reporting on a poll of Cubans, is one of the most misleading portrayals of public opinion that I have ever seen.  Because it's permeated with distortions all the way through, I've taken the unusual -- but in this case, necessary -- step of pasting the entire story below.  My comments are in bright green.

Poll: 1 in 4 Cubans OK with freedoms

What about the other 3 in 4 Cubans?!  Why does the headline trumpet what a minority of poll respondents said?

By FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 14, 5:03 PM ET

WASHINGTON - About one-quarter of Cubans interviewed in the island's two biggest cities are satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives, according to a poll released Thursday.

Why is the lead of the story what a minority of poll respondents said?  In addition, might the failure to poll anyone outside the two largest cities distort the poll results?  Are residents of two largest cities more likely to be members of the government and privileged classes, and/or more likely to be friends and associates of those who are?

When asked about the job performance of Cuba's leaders, about 40 percent of those surveyed said they disapproved, the Gallup Poll found. Not quite half gave their approval. The poll surveyed 600 people in Havana and 400 in Santiago.

The survey comes as Cuba is at a crossroads. Leader Fidel Castro is ill and questions abound about whether he will recover and what will happen if he does not.

Right.  So at this important crossroads, why is the AP playing up the misleading angle that Cubans are "OK with their freedoms" in the headline and in this entire story?

Castro's autocratic rule has fueled widespread criticism, though he has supporters, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Gallup conducted the Cuba survey only in two cities because of the difficulty in getting around the island and because of the absence of a reliable way to buy food and provisions, said Carlos Denton, president of CID Gallup Central America.

Would residents of parts of the island where it's difficult to get around and where there is no reliable way to buy food and provisions have a different view than those big city residents Gallup did poll?  Also, why no telephone polling?  Could it be because: (a) most Cubans don't even have telephones (per CIA factbook, telephone line density remains low, at less than 10 per 100 inhabitants); and (b) if they do have phones, they could not answer poll questions honestly for fear the possibility of being monitored or recorded?

The results are not meant to be representative of Cuba's more than 11 million citizens — only a look at those nearly 3 million people living in Havana and Santiago, Gallup officials said.

No kidding it's not representative.  So why is it a story at all?

According to the survey:

_When asked about the "ideal partner" for Cuba to increase commercial ties with, the United States was most commonly mentioned, followed by China and Venezuela. The U.S. government maintains a decades-old trade and travel embargo against Cuba.

The Cubans like us!  They really like us!

_Nearly all of those interviewed said they thought Cuban health care was accessible to any person who needed it, regardless of their economic status.

Hoo boy.  Babalu Blog will give you a glimpse into Cuban health care.

_Nearly all said Cubans who wanted to study have access to education, regardless of their economic situation.

_Only about 40 percent said Cubans can get ahead by working hard.

That's interesting.  And why might that be?

_About two-thirds of the respondents who had jobs said they were satisfied with them.

I'm sorry, did you say two-thirds of the respondents who had jobs?  That would leave out how many respondents who do not have jobs?

Ten people from other Latin American countries conducted the interviews along with 10 Cubans, mostly college students Gallup had previously dealt with. The workers tried to stay away from the homes of people responsible for reporting on neighborhood activities to the government. Such homes, Gallup said, are on nearly every block.

Gee, that makes it sound as if Cuba is a little repressive, doesn't it?

The interviews were not monitored by the Cuban government, the polling group said, and no incentives to answer questions were given to respondents. Gallup said it did not request governmental permission to conduct the survey.

But what if people fear that their individual answers to the poll might become known?  Hmmmm -- might that affect their candor?

The poll workers entered their results daily in computers at the Internet cafes that have sprung up to cater to tourists. They burned their data each night to avoid having the results recovered by the government.

Let's see -- untraceable poll results, burned nightly to avoid government detection.  I can really see why one in four Cubans is "OK with freedoms."

Jesus Rios, Gallup's director of research for Latin America, said that the questions were the same ones his company uses in similar polls all over the world and were not customized for Cuba.

The poll was conducted Sept. 1-15 with residents above the age of 15. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points for the total sample.

Does that margin of error take into account the fear of being put in jail for three to ten years, or worse, if you give the wrong answer?

And that is the end of the AP story. 

Funny, but nowhere in the story is there any discussion of the 3 in 4 Cubans who did not say that they are "satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives." 

I'd sure like to talk to those poll respondents and hear what they have to say, wouldn't you?