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CUBA RUINED
Cuban-America playwright Carmen Peláez - whose latest work was written in response to “the fascination with Che T-shirts, solidarity tours to Cuba and the endless praise of the revolution’s twin pillars of health and education” - on Castro-loving leftists:
“When I started writing the play, I thought people just didn’t know what was happening in Cuba,” she said after the show closed its monthlong New York run last week. “But the longer I live here, the more I realized, they don’t care ...
“They would rather keep their little pop revolution instead of saying it is a dictatorship,” Ms. Peláez said. “I had somebody come to me after a show and say, ‘Don’t ruin Cuba for me!’ Well, why not? They’re holding on to a fantasy.”
I attended a Quaker liberal arts college with the emphasis on liberal. All the professors were either pacificist Quakers, commies, or both. I can recall getting into classroom “discussions” with professors in which I averred that their pie in the sky delusions were mere idealism. We live in a real world. We need real world solutions to problems. Each professor would answer “what’s wrong with idealism?”
What’s wrong with idealism? Nothing if you’re a goofball professor who limits her ponderings to utopian fantasies. But allow idealism to match up with means and resolve, and you’ve got chaos, strife, and genocide writ large.
Keep in mind, that was my attitude when I was a freshman. I quickly learned that if I wanted an A in a class, I had to carry the professor’s standard. Truth to power, man.
Posted by wronwright on 2008 03 10 at 11:45 AM • permalinkI’ve often wondered if Bolshevik groupies might not be suffering from displaced Santa Claus fantasies. The big man in the red suit brings you all these nice presents when you’re a kid, no quid pro quo required (except theoretically for “good behavior”, which is easy enough to fake for a couple of weeks). Then you suffer the trauma of finding out that Santa is really just a fairy tale, maybe even just your bourgeois Dad impersonating the great Gift Bringer, himself. So, you grow up, put aside the pain of your disillusionment, and – Wham! - out of nowhere, you’ve got another chance to latch onto the big man with his red banners and his highfalutin’ promises of something for nothing (which is especially gratifying since he probably represents everything your hard-working Dad despises, and it was Dad, after all, who set you up with that earlier bogus fantasy, the uncovering of which so traumatized your youthful psyche). You grab hold of the new fantasy, and you’re not going to let go of it – certainly not because of something as paltry and irrelevant as someone’s first-hand experience; your mind wouldn’t be able to take another disappointment like that. And if the new Santa’s sack of goodies happens to be dripping with blood – Hey, man: eggs and omelets, eggs and omelets. And if the sack is practically empty, why, that’s because it’s been looted by Amerikkka.
La Revolucion is Santa Claus for disillusioned middle class adolescents who refuse to grow up. Interesting idea, paco.
I reckon Josef Stalin was Santa in a “Mr Spock with a goatee” parallel universe…
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 12:27 PM • permalinkAnd if the new Santa’s sack of goodies happens to be dripping with blood – Hey, man: eggs and omelets, eggs and omelets. And if the sack is practically empty, why, that’s because it’s been looted by Amerikkka.
Eggs and omelets. I’ve often wondered if Walter Duranty felt some weird sexual gratification knowing that the “enemies of the people” were being lined up and shot.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 12:31 PM • permalinkRebeccaH / 2
There are people who will go to their graves clinging to that fantasy, in the face of all contrary evidence ...
Maybe there’s prizes given out for that kind of stupidness. If so, here’s a strong competitor.
Posted by formerly Huck Foley on 2008 03 10 at 12:33 PM • permalink#9
Maintaining Kos Kid levels of colossal stupidity is a full time job.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 12:51 PM • permalinkFor more on the subject of Tim’s post - and on all things Cuban - don’t miss the Babalu Blog.
“I had somebody come to me after a show and say, ‘Don’t ruin Cuba for me!’ ...”
Please, please, ruin Cuba for these cretins.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 03 10 at 01:11 PM • permalinkHey, Wronwright, I thought you were in charge of crowd control at Karl’s speech this week. I don’t see any references to taser action or fire hoses or mounted security cops in this article. And where’s the TWAT team (Tardis Weapons and Tactics) - Parthian archers, Macedonian pikemen, Moghul lancers?
Hey, I woulda been glad to take care of this, but I was on assignment: special observer on the international inspection team of the Ukrainian WACS shower facilities.
#5, #8
“Where are the omelets? There’s never any omelet.”
Posted by WingDynasty on 2008 03 10 at 01:38 PM • permalinkThe Cuba-fanciers are fond of the phrase speaking truth to power and as an example proudly point to the Town Council of West Bumfuck, which, after solemn deliberation, passed an ordinance calling for the arrest of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Of course, nothing happened: the learned councilmen are safe as in church. Now imagine a village council in rural Las Villas passing a resolution calling for the arrest of the Castro brothers.
He’s a New York Democrat. They’ll probably give him a medal.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 02:48 PM • permalink#23 yojimbo
The Associated Press can’t even admit which Party he belongs to. Had Spitzer been a Republican, it would have been in the headline, and repeated a half-dozen times in the body of the article.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 02:54 PM • permalinkI’ve had it out with enough of those fools to know there’s no history, logic, reason or fact that’ll change their little minds about anything, much less a Che shirt. They’re especially galling to see here in Jersey, where so many Cuban exiles live. Che fans have no clue what these people went through and they just don’t care. To them, tweaking Daddy (thank you, paco) to show how grown up they are is more important than all the murders and suffering their hero caused.
Posted by Gary from Jersey on 2008 03 10 at 03:11 PM • permalink#32 Ushie
Actually, Josef Stalin might be a good one. It would probably sell.
I am not kidding.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 03:43 PM • permalink#35 Latino
He might be thinking that if he hangs on long enough, the Press will forget about it and “move on”. Barney Frank is still in office.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 03:46 PM • permalinkElliot Spitzer is admitting that he was involved in a prostitution ring.
What the? Okay, here’s how I see it. If his involvement was confined to using the services of a female prostitute while unmarried (a la Jerry Springer), he’ll survive.
If it involves using a female prostitute while married, he’ll survive if his wife stands by her man.
If it involves using a male prostitute (eewwww), he might survive if his wife does the Tammy Wynette bit, even with a mortified look.
If it involves him servicing patrons, gawd only knows. Geesh.
Posted by wronwright on 2008 03 10 at 03:47 PM • permalinkNoah D—
Wronwright, that wouldn’t happen to have been Earlham, in senic Richmond, IN, would it?
No. Earlham is Oral Roberts University in comparison. My school is in Ohio. Not as liberal as Antioch College perhaps but what school is?
Posted by wronwright on 2008 03 10 at 03:58 PM • permalinkThis is either good news or bad, wron: Antioch went out of business last year. So enough students wised up and went elsewhere or Antioch’s faculty did.
Posted by Gary from Jersey on 2008 03 10 at 04:05 PM • permalink#39 yojimbo
Well, one thing we do know. He was caught on a federal wiretap sooo…..
I blame George Bush!
Do you mean like this:
My theory (29+ / 0-)
is that the Bush administration caught this through their wiretaps of Democratic politicians.
by existenz on Mon Mar 10, 2008 at 11:30:47 AM PDTYou see? All that “illegal warrantless wiretap” / FISA / “domestic spying” hullabaloo had nothing to do with tracking terrorists, but to catch Democrats calling up prostitutes.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 04:20 PM • permalink#47
Aren’t there more faculty than students there now?
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 04:22 PM • permalinkI’m actually surprised that Karl Marx t-shirts haven’t caught on in the U.S., and not just because I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s something to paco’s “ersatz Santa” theory and Karl definitely fits the bill.
And if you’re going for the “communism has never been properly implemented, man!” argument like so many leftists do, you might as well go straight with the source.
‘UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted for the 16th straight year today to urge America to end its trade embargo against Cuba, whose foreign minister accused America of stepping up its “brutal economic war” to new heights.’
‘The 192-member world body approved a resolution calling for the 46-year-old American economic and commercial embargo against Cuba to be repealed as soon as possible.’
‘“The blockade had never been enforced with such viciousness as over the last year,” Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told the assembly, accusing President Bush’s administration of adopting “new measures bordering on madness and fanaticism” that have hurt Cuba and interfered in its relations with at least 30 countries.’
‘Delegates in the General Assembly chamber burst into applause when the vote in favor of the resolution flashed on the screen — 184 to four with one abstention. That was a one-vote improvement over last year.’
Ya gotta love how people think. The whole reason there’s an American embargo against Cuba at all is because the communists stole all the American owned assets in Cuba after their glorious revolution.
Now, the boys at the U.N. are suggesting that we HAVE to lift our embargo, invest in Cuba, and then, presumably watch while the communists seize American assets again.
It isn’t just the dolts wearing Che t-shirts who are insane.
Btw, in spite of the embargo, the United States is the largest importer of food to Cuba. That’s because the bumbling socialists are incapable of feeding themselves, therefore we allow food exports, embargo or no embargo, so the jagoffs won’t starve to death.
So much for American viciousness.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2008 03 10 at 05:55 PM • permalinkYou Want To See Anger?
A guy wears a Che Guevara shirt to Humberto Fontova’s BBQ.‘The punk was doomed. The savage, deafening scream jerked him upright from the neighbor’s lawn chair and he gaped in horror. His eyes looked like cueballs. His mouth quivered as he dropped his guitar in panic. Then he jerked it up again, got a two-handed grip on the neck, and prepared to swing it like an ax – perhaps his only defense against the lunatic who’d just hurdled the backyard fence and was closing in with fearsome speed, screaming and snarling as he ran. “You rotten Commie PUNK!!” I raved. ” That’s your Commie ass!”
I cleared the neighbor’s garden in one bound, stumbled slightly over the hose and sprinkler and zeroed back in. Another twenty yards and I’ll have him. “DAD!!” My daughter screamed from beside him. “NO!...are you CRAZY?!” She flapped her arms frantically…“MOM! – MOM! Do something! Hurry! – HURRY!!”
“No DAD!” my sons, also at the neighbors today, joined the chorus. “No! He’s alright! He’s our friend!”’
When Spitzer was attorney general, his m.o. was to prosecute Wall St. firms by challenging their bookkeeping, often for things that were accepted practice in the industries. It was a form of extortion, because it was cheaper to settle the cases than to fight the prosecution. Even if they would ultimately prevail, it wasn’t worth the money and bad publicity. And he became a legendary crusader.
#53 Blogstrop: “Any background on how you get to be a super-delegate?”
The political operator sits in a folding chair, near a round, felt-covered table. His poker cronies have gone home - leaving most of their cash behind. The operator leans back, his gold watch chain stretched across his bulging vest, takes a fresh cigar out of a mahogany humidor, bites the end off, and fires up.
Well, now, I’ll tell ya, son. If I was in charge of the Democratic Party - which I ain’t, mind you - but if I was, these here “super delegates” would all be people I had somethin’ on, if ya know what I mean, somthin’ that would make ‘em…tractable come convention time.
‘Course, there’s others that reckon they know better than me, so I think they’ve got it rigged up this way.
#2 rebeccaH, it’s worse than
to admit otherwise is to admit complicity through silence and inaction.
They were complicit with active support and demonstrations and supporting T-shirt propaganda.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 10 at 07:22 PM • permalink#23 I think I heard him refered to a client #9.
Apparently, it was very upscale, $1000 dollars an evening sort of thing. Not in my league.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 10 at 07:33 PM • permalink#28, Gary are you from Jersey or New Jersey? /Sark /Guernsey
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 10 at 07:35 PM • permalinkThe only thing the communists have done in Cuba is kill a bunch of people, enslave the rest, and wreck the economy. If it wasn’t for them, Cuba would probably be a first world country by now.
And, this report assumes that the statistics given out by the communists are true. I’d say the likliehood of that being the case is pretty much nil.
The real story is certainly even worse.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2008 03 10 at 07:37 PM • permalink#63: Over $4,000, Wimpy; he should have opted for a cold shower (that wouldn’t have cost him anything, and he’d be working on his strategy for capturing the Democratic presidential nomination in 2012, right now, instead of looking into career options as a truck driver or a salesman of Amway products).
And he’s been airbrushed from Hillary’s web site faster than one of Stalin’s rivals from a May Day parade photo.
“The blockade had never been enforced with such viciousness as over the last year”
Blockade? Snort. And how many ships near Cuba does the US Navy board every day in its anaconda-like cordon?
Do we not have a representative at the UN who can pipe up and say, “Um, what blockade would that be?”
BTW, I heard the news about Spitzer on my way to work. I literally screamed with schadenfreudic joy. What a nasty little piece of work he is. The fact he won the governship in a landslide shows why I moved out of that shithole of a state.
#50 Paco,
Worse, learning that Batman runs a protection racket.
Posted by mythusmage on 2008 03 10 at 08:12 PM • permalinkAnd we are reassured:
Wilfred Burchett was misguided but not necessarily malevolent
#50
Will Enron sue Spitman?Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 10 at 08:17 PM • permalink#67 Dave S.
Do we not have a representative at the UN who can pipe up and say, “Um, what blockade would that be?”
Not anymore. John Bolton was a recess appointment and the Dems insisted they would not even allow a vote when his appointment was up for confirmation.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 10:46 PM • permalink#68
Worse, learning that Batman runs a protection racket.
Actually, that’s pretty much what Spitzer was doing as a prosecutor.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 10 at 10:52 PM • permalinkyojimbo -
Wronwright
You didn’t have anything to do with this latest fandango in NY?
Seems to me I saw something about “Client #9”
in the “useful alias” section of the manual.Why are you asking? Did paco say anything?
paco!
Posted by wronwright on 2008 03 11 at 06:10 AM • permalinkSpiny 25
Had Spitzer been a Republican, it would have been in the headline, and repeated a half-dozen times in the body of the article.
My memory may be hazy, but I recall the reportage of last year’s bathroom scandal being roughly as follows: “Republican Senator Larry Craig (Republican, Idaho) was found in a men’s room, doing homo stuff, while being a Republican. Craig, a lifelong Republican, is in the Senate, as a Republican, and is reputed to be a Republican. He may also be a Republican.”
Wronwright (D-Ohio)
If it involves using a female prostitute while married, he’ll survive if his wife stands by her man.
It involves using a female prostitute on the wrong side of several state lines, in violation of the Mann Act.
It also involves using a female prostitute employed by one prostitution ring after a history of prosecuting competing prostitution rings out of business, thus affording this priceless opportunity to type the terms “prosecution” and “prostitution” in the same sentence, multiple times.
It also, as of the time of this typage, somehow inexplicably does NOT involve a resignation or a goddamned INDICTMENT, but it’s early yet…Posted by formerly Huck Foley on 2008 03 11 at 09:47 AM • permalink
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I live in the liberal yuppie hell section of Chicago known as Lincoln Park (also home to DePaul University). A few years ago, in response to the “Che Chic” someone was putting stickers on signs of a picture of Che with Mickey Mouse ears (sort of like no pasaran) and a Bart Simpson tee shirt. The sticker said “How much does your revolution cost”.
I never figured out if it was done by real Che lovers, angered that he had become a pop icon, or conservative or libertarian types making fun of the Che mania.