Cuba Lunacy
| Wed Mar. 4, 2009 8:35 AM PST
Barack Obama supports a provision in the spending bill before Congress that would allow Cuban-Americans to visit relatives on the island once a year and end limits on the sale of American food and medicines in Cuba. 
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez (D–Lunaticville) is so outraged by this that he's threatening to oppose the entire bill. And he's holding up two of Obama's science nominations (John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco). And he's threatening to hold his breath until his face turns blue.
Jeebus. What is it about Cuba that drives people into decades-long fits of insanity? Even JFK, the guy who instituted the Cuba embargo in the first place, thought we were all kind of crazy on the subject. But 50 years later? Crazy doesn't begin to describe it.
What's more, it's a different kind of crazy from most exile communities. What accounts for it? A Cuban-American congressional candidate told me last year that the difference was simple: most Cuban exiles, when they fled the island after Castro's takeover, left with their entire families. So for a lot of them, there's literally nothing remaining there that they care about. You could drop a nuke on Havana and they'd be OK with that. This promotes a different brand of insanity than in most exile communities, which might hate the current regime in their home country but still have deep personal ties to it.
I don't know if that's really the explanation or not. Comments welcome on this score. But there's got to be something that explains this. It's just nuts, and Menendez should be ashamed of himself. It's time to grow up.
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez (D–Lunaticville) is so outraged by this that he's threatening to oppose the entire bill. And he's holding up two of Obama's science nominations (John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco). And he's threatening to hold his breath until his face turns blue.Jeebus. What is it about Cuba that drives people into decades-long fits of insanity? Even JFK, the guy who instituted the Cuba embargo in the first place, thought we were all kind of crazy on the subject. But 50 years later? Crazy doesn't begin to describe it.
What's more, it's a different kind of crazy from most exile communities. What accounts for it? A Cuban-American congressional candidate told me last year that the difference was simple: most Cuban exiles, when they fled the island after Castro's takeover, left with their entire families. So for a lot of them, there's literally nothing remaining there that they care about. You could drop a nuke on Havana and they'd be OK with that. This promotes a different brand of insanity than in most exile communities, which might hate the current regime in their home country but still have deep personal ties to it.
I don't know if that's really the explanation or not. Comments welcome on this score. But there's got to be something that explains this. It's just nuts, and Menendez should be ashamed of himself. It's time to grow up.
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Comments
Even JFK, the guy who
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 8:55 AM PST.
Even JFK, the guy who instituted the Cuba embargo in the first place, thought we were all kind of crazy on the subject.
The one guy who would have ended the embargo and Castro has the unfortunate luck to kill him.
Meanwhile, Fidel Castro has
Submitted by Boronx on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 9:11 AM PST.
Meanwhile, Fidel Castro has a blog.
I just sent an email to Sen
Submitted by troglodyte (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 9:11 AM PST.
I just sent an email to Sen Menendez urging him to stop the madness. You can too:
Anyone wishing to urge the Senator to release his hold immediately so we can get down to the business of dealing with climate disruption --including the eventual inundation of the New Jersey shore as a result of sea level rise—can do so by placing a phone call to his office and/or sending a note:
Menendez, Robert - (D - NJ)
528 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4744
http://www.menendez.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
We are seeing that grassroots democracy is an increasingly powerful means for advancing our civic responsibilities in dealing with climate disruption. We see no reason why his phone should not be ringing off the hook and his email flooded today over this matter.
Obama and Cuba
Submitted by Jim Bouman (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 9:12 AM PST.
Write this letter to President Obama:
Mr. President:
We know you are busy. And, Cuba is not at the top of your list.
Changing the Cuba Travel Ban and the Embargo will be complex. Frankly, we understand that you have your eye on the collapse of the economy and winding down George Bush's wars. And Congress will be needed to change these. We'll wait.
However--with no more than one minute of your time and your signature--you can fulfill the promise you made in Miami before a packed house in Little Havana. George Bush created cruel and nasty new rules that affect hundreds of thousands of Cuban families in the U.S. and Cuba. It was done in a minute with nothing more than a presidential signature. You need only undo the damage --with your presidential signature.
No need to even think about it; you've already made the decision and announced it. You did that over a year ago when you said:
When I am elected president, I will grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island....
A promise is a promise....
Jim Bouman
Waukesha, Wisconsin
becoming Batista will please his mother
Submitted by tpx on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 9:15 AM PST.
Sen. Menendez wants to become the next Fulgencio Batista. It will please his mother.
"What is it about Cuba that
Submitted by Chris Brown on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 9:23 AM PST.
"What is it about Cuba that drives people into decades-long fits of insanity? "
In Menendez's case, very many of the Cuban oligarchs and mafioso who fled the Cuban revolution settled in NJ, and like their compatriots in South FL, have been generous with campaign contributions.
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What's Real
It's an issue of machismo
Submitted by Dervin (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 9:40 AM PST.
When Castro took over, he pretty much cut off every man's balls who fled Cuba. He exposed them for the weak cowards they really are. They had the Government, they had the US, they had the military and Castro kicked their asses. Because Castro is more of a man than the entire cuban exile population combined.
So the only way they can get their manhood back is to completely eradicate Castro and his friends - anything less than that is emasculation.
I'm a constituent of
Submitted by Joe S. (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 9:40 AM PST.
I'm a constituent of Menendez. He's generally a good Democrat. He just has this crazy hair about Cuba. Well, at least I'm better off than Joe Lieberman's constituents. Their Senator's crazy hair spreads over half the world.
A Cuban-American
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 10:05 AM PST.
A Cuban-American congressional candidate told me last year that the difference was simple: most Cuban exiles, when they fled the island after Castro's takeover, left with their entire families. So for a lot of them, there's literally nothing remaining there that they care about. You could drop a nuke on Havana and they'd be OK with that.
That's definitely a different kind of crazy, and it says a lot about the character of the crazy exiles, whose numbers are dwindling, I hope. It takes a special, BushCheneylike sense of humanity to draw such a bright line at the edge of "family." They were able to transport every single person who deserved respect and protection to their new home--such an insular, miserable web of connections. These families pretend that they left behind no friends (credible) or relatives (preposterous)?
How lucky for us that these crazy, vindictive, selfish immigrants chose our country to perpetuate their inbred nastiness while insisting that we support and participate in their multigenerational tantrum.
I've tried to have this conversation with my Cuban-American frie
Submitted by Godless Heathen at work (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 10:54 AM PST.
It seems like every time, the argument comes back to "sending money to Cuba supports Castro." I've tried to explain that if a 40 year embargo hasn't worked, year 41 probably won't be packed with progress either, but it's like there is a complete disconnect from logic whenever that four letter word gets mentioned.
The good news is that South Florida, easily the base of the Cuban-American political machine, is slowly moving away from these hardline stances as two things occur:
1 - More and more Cuban-Americans are born in the US and don't have memories of Castro as a vicious murderer, so they are more likely to vote in their own interests (D).
2 - Latinos from the rest of the Caribbean, and Central and South Americas are increasing in number and slowly gaining a political voice, even if it's just to fight against the Miami Cuba political machine. Give us another 10-15 years and we'll come around, I swear!
Let's not write-off America's wang just yet...
In time, we will see the removal of the useless Repugs like the Diaz-Balart brothers, Mel Martinez and Ileana Ros-Leihtinen (probably spelled it wrong, but she doesn't deserve a google). The tides in Miami are turning, but it is a slow process, and it would probably be helped greatly by increased relations with Cuba.
Wow! Smart and fearless
Submitted by Julianne Waters (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 5:39 PM PST.
Wow! Smart and fearless journalism has certainly left a lot to be desired today… such a preposterous statement: “most Cuban exiles, when they fled the island after Castro's takeover, left with their entire families. So for a lot of them, there's literally nothing remaining there that they care about. You could drop a nuke on Havana and they'd be OK with that.” If you would have actually taken a minute to review Cuban exile demographics you would realize that one out of every three Cuban families living in the US (1.5 million people) LEFT someone of importance behind not to mention their lives, property, and generations of their dead (whose tombs BTW have in many instances been raided or tampered with). In my own family, my grandmother died without ever seeing her only son again, since she became an exile but he was denied an exit visa by the Cuban government. The denial was supposedly because he was still “draft age” (15-27) and had to serve his country. Only he would have never been allowed into the Cuban military because he had been a political prisoner, and almost shot by firing squad twice simply for voicing dissenting views in public. My own father was kept in a work camp for seven years and forced to cut sugar cane for the state (poorly fed and mistreated) and what was his only crime? Not wanting to raise his daughter under communism and requesting an exit visa to become a political refugee in the US. BTW, none of that excuses Menendez insensitivity towards the families suffering separation today, all of whom should be entitled to travel and support each other at their leisure. Unfortunately, Cuban American legislators suffer from a deep-rooted intolerance that stems back to a lot of the traumas suffered in their own families (which they are in no hurry to get over). If that trauma is anything like the one suffered by my family, I can empathize (and so perhaps should the “smart and fearless” journalists from this blog) but it’s time to move forward and put all that behind us… The time has come to put an end to this failed “embargo” policy.
Vicious Circles
Submitted by Bill Harshaw on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 10:27 AM PST.
Strikes me there may be a circular relationship--the disruption of the relationship beween Cuba and the US in 1959-61 made the politics binary, the binary politics gave the vocal minority the power to enforce the break in relationship.
It reminds me of the China Lobby in the 1950's-70's, notably in their ability to prevent the US from recognizing Red China. I'm not sure why the Vietnamese refugees didn't mobilize around preventing recognition of the Hanoi regime, though?
Term du jour
Submitted by Bob (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 10:31 AM PST.
troglodyte writes: "Anyone wishing to urge the Senator to release his hold immediately so we can get down to the business of dealing with climate disruption...."
"Global warming" morphed into "climate change," and now transmogrifies into "climate disruption"?
Pragmatists (that is, people who try to view things as they are, rather then through the distorted lens of ideology) ask the simple question: what's the deal here? Not only with the term being used, but with the concept itself. Troglodyte talks about "the eventual inundation of the New Jersey shore as a result of sea level rise" -- where's the evidence (ANY evidence) for THAT??
Please answer as soon as possible, troglodyte, as those of us who live near the California shore are understandably nervous.
Term du jour
Submitted by Bob (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 10:32 AM PST.
troglodyte writes: "Anyone wishing to urge the Senator to release his hold immediately so we can get down to the business of dealing with climate disruption...."
"Global warming" morphed into "climate change," and now transmogrifies into "climate disruption"?
Pragmatists (that is, people who try to view things as they are, rather then through the distorted lens of ideology) ask the simple question: what's the deal here? Not only with the term being used, but with the concept itself. Troglodyte talks about "the eventual inundation of the New Jersey shore as a result of sea level rise" -- where's the evidence (ANY evidence) for THAT??
Please answer as soon as possible, troglodyte, as those of us who live near the California shore are understandably nervous.
It's about their family land claims
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 11:14 AM PST.
The exiles were the landed class in Cuba, and they want their land back. So they constantly flex their muscles so in the end, they can get the State Department to press their land claims.
Sadly enough, they might be right. Look at the long history of the US meddling in Nicaragua's disputes between the traditional oligarchy families and the Sandinistas, with the US always on the side of displaced rich people.
Nothing like a displaced aristocracy. Read any good books about Duchess Anastasia recently?
Right now Cuba has good
Submitted by michael7843853 on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 6:29 PM PST.
Right now Cuba has good universal health care and the highest literacy rate in the western hemisphere. I've often wondered how long that would last if the old guard comes back. There is a reason the people backed Castro.
warmer waters and Cuba relations
Submitted by TDW on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 11:17 AM PST.
Two topics here.
One, the knowledge that the temperature of the oceans is rising is widely reported. Warmer oceans melt more ice. Melting ice adds more liquid water. We learned about this in 8th grade and MJ had many articles on it over the last year. No question about the warming, though there are many more contributing factors than CO2 alone. Scientists will attest, fishermen will attest. Rush won't, Mel won't.
Second. Cuba has accomplished much with little, regarding education and medical care. They suffer much as well. If there were such a thing as a free market, that wasn't a copyrighted sales phrase for the monopoly global investment system, then Cuba would be welcomed to participate and the proof of their efficacy would be determined by "sink or swim". The monopoly can't stand competition from other systems because the monopoly knows that competing strategies like Venezuela's and Bolivia's and Cuba's eke out little improvements to share with other developing nations and the entire world will benefit from the broader pool of thought. The magnates of the market would have to share the benefits with people with brains and courage. They apparently don't have the confidence to compete on even ground.
Cuban Exiles
Submitted by Elio M. García, Jr. (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 1:20 PM PST.
I'd be careful of saying the exiles were "the" landed class. That's not true for either side of my family, really. My great-grandfather was basically a small-time farmer. My grandfather had a little bodega. These weren't wealthy people. But they left anyways, and yes, most of my family of the previous generation are adamant concerning the embargo and so on.
And it's not because they left with their entire family, either -- again, as I said, they weren't wealthy. My family trickled in piecemeal over the years, as relatives scraped together money in the U.S. to buy them passage. My father had to go a long route, via Spain, before he got to the U.S. My grandfather stayed in Cuba until his death last year. I have aunts and uncles I've never met, and cousins I've never met (though I occasionally correspond with one, who's a journalist).
And still, just about every member of the family of the previous generation supports the embargo whole-heartedly (and I think a lot of them of my generation do as well -- I've only recently learned that one of my cousins is also *gasp* a Democrat). I've argued about it with some of them in the past, like my parents and (especially) my aunt. I've put forward that open trade and diplomatic relations would do more to alleviate the suffering of so many Cubans, but they argue that the government will merely take all of it for itself, sustaining itself that much longer.
My father and aunt saw their mother and grandmother arrested for anti-Castro activities, and had a very harrowing experience as practically orphaned children because of this (I gather; one curiousity of having such a tragic past is that it's kind of obscured for those who come after -- I've only ever gotten bits and pieces of it as I've grown up). Their hatred of Castro is bone-deep for this and other reasons, and I guess that's why they believe as they do.
I'd say it's probably true that the movers-and-shakers of the exile community have very little familial connection to Cuba any longer, and this affects how they see things. But a lot of the anti-Castro, pro-embargo exiles have family there still, so it's not the entire solution to the puzzle.
A Canadian's View of Cuba
Submitted by madcelt on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 1:26 PM PST.
"I'm not sure why the
Submitted by tomtom (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 4:06 PM PST.
"I'm not sure why the Vietnamese refugees didn't mobilize around preventing recognition of the Hanoi regime..?"
I guess the Vietnamese immigrants were more than an entrenched blood-sucking elite with no fellow feeling. The North Vietnamese purges were so wide and cruel that all sorts of decent Vietnamese had to leave. Ironically, Castro was less cruel and indiscriminate so the people who left were a cruddier, richer group.
No country on earth,
Submitted by michael7843853 on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 6:36 PM PST.
No country on earth, including North Vietnam, and other than the French, is more responsible for misery in Vietnam than the USA.
a lot more of them would be in jail
Submitted by alan (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 6:25 PM PST.
If they didn't have anti-communism to hide behind a lot more them would be in jail.
read "Cuba Confidential" by Bardach if you want to understand
Submitted by J. Frank Parnell (not verified) on Wed Mar. 4, 2009 7:19 PM PST.
An excellent book on the whole sad history is "Cuba Confidential" by Ann Louisa Bardach. Part of the problem is that Castro shared a relatively privileged upbringing in pre-revolution Cuba with the people who became the leaders of the exile movement. They moved in the same social circles and in many cases were friends. The disagreements are not only political in nature, but very personal on both sides. The whole thing resembles a family feud (Castro’s first wife is the aunt of Florida anti-Castro Congressmen Mario and Lincoln Diaz Balart) that has exploded out of all proportion. That said, a lot of the posturing today is as much about maintaining political and economic power in Miami as it is about the future of Cuba.
Xorza
Submitted by Acropolus (not verified) on Thu Mar. 5, 2009 9:05 AM PST.
This kindda of Kuban breed political animals is very very dangerous, vendetta style.
But that's your country and you have to deal with. Be careful with his shadow.
how would you define the
Submitted by must destoy all red flags and gold stars (not verified) on Fri Mar. 6, 2009 5:44 AM PST.
how would you define the crazy the bubbles up every year in Westminster/Garden Grove?
The Curse is Lifted
Submitted by David (not verified) on Sat Jun. 6, 2009 8:00 PM PDT.
On the 70th anniversary of the turning way of the MS Saint Louis, the OAS voted by ascent to allow Cuba to return if they wish.
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/science/ci_12518021
Castro was sent by God to punish the nation for it's treatment of refugees fleeing Hitler. 70 years of exile is the punishment for a stiff-necked people who will not obey God. Read Leviticus 26.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/stlouis.html
The hurricanes last year were a sign that it was finished. The first storm that struck Cuba was Gustav. Gustav Schroeder was the captain of the St. Louis. The second storm was Ike. General Eisenhower freed Europe from Hitler and later as US President, gave Fidel the island by refusing to sell arms to F. Batista. The third storm to strike Cuba was Paloma (the dove). Paloma struck on the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht.
http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=086488a0-374b-4cfd...
http://frank.mtsu.edu/~baustin/knacht.html
When Fidel gave his victory speech in Havana on Jan 1, 1959, a dove lighted on his shoulder and remained there while he spoke.
http://faustasblog.com/?p=2688
The song La Paloma was written about doves escaping a sinking ship prior to an invasion over 2500 years ago. The modern version of the song is about a man who is forced to leave Havana suddenly with his bride to be staying behind. The modern lyrics begin "when I left Havana, God Save Me!, no one saw me leave." The refrain is a rebuke from God - "If at your window a dove arrives, treat it with affection, for it is I"
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