Rep. Diane Watson Doesn't Know Cuba

With a few sentences, Stacy McCain gives us much to think about:

"Whittaker Chambers . . . wrote that the crisis of the Western world exists to the degree in which the West is indifferent to God, the degree to which it collaborates in communism's attempt to make man stand alone without God. And then he said, for Marxism-Leninism is actually the second-oldest faith, first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden with the words of temptation, 'Ye shall be as gods.' The Western world can answer this challenge, he wrote, 'but only provided that its faith in God and the freedom He enjoins is as great as communism's faith in Man.' "-- Ronald Reagan, March 8, 1983
What's wrong with Marxism? And what's wrong with a member of the U.S. Congress praising Fidel Castro? To begin with, as I said, it is a repudiation of the American founding. Our nation was not established by theoretical philosophes, and it did not grow strong and flourish by heeding the flattering "words of temptation."

McCain is referring to Rep. Diane Watson’s praise of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Well, we’ve heard the praise before but it never ceases to stun. Those who cast Cuba as an island paradise are ignore some rather pertinent facts:

In 2006, the per capita income in Cuba was $4,100. That same year, Fidel Castro’s personal wealth was estimated at $550 million. Why the disparity? Because the people work for Fidel, not themselves. But Watson doesn’t address that does she? She’s in good company. Hollywood elites swarm to Cuba and return home to laud Castro:

"Socialism works. I think Cuba might prove that" (Chevy Chase).
"Castro is very selfless and moral, one of the world's wisest men" (Oliver Stone).
"If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy,
you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro!" (Harry Belafonte).
"It was an experience of a lifetime to sit only a few feet away from him (Castro)"
Kevin Costner.
"The eight most important hours of my life," Stephen Spielberg describing his dinner with Castro.
"Castro is a humanist like President Clinton. Cuba is simply a paradise!" Jack Nicholson

Yes, it is a paradise for the willfully blind tourists who bring hard American currency beachfront resorts. For the Cuban people, life is virtual slavery marked by rationing, shortages of even the most basic goods and crushing oppression. How do the Cuban people cope? Many of them attempt escape by whatever means, including navigating 91 miles of ocean on nothing more than old tires that have tied together.

Stacy McCain:

Socialism is the antithesis of philanthropy, even though the advocates of socialism repeatedly proclaim their philanthropic motives, so that like the Pharisees, priests and scribes of ancient Jerusalem, they may be praised as virtuous humanitarians because of the good intentions with which they pave the road to Hell.

Socialism has failed the people of Cuba, yet Watson would bring that failure to us. I’m not as generous as Stacy, I won’t credit Watson with good intentions.

Senora Watson Es Muy Loco

Michelle Malkin has an astounding video of Rep. Diane Watson, (D) CA, singing the praises of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara:



And lemme tell ya, before you say “Oh, it’s a commu–”, you need to go down there and see what Fidel Castro put in place. And I want you to know, now, you can think whatever you want to about Fidel Castro, but he was one of the brightest leaders I have ever met. [APPLAUSE]


And you know, the Cuban revolution that kicked out the wealthy, Che Guevara did that, and then, after they took over, they went out among the population to find someone who could lead this new nation, and they found…well, just leave it there (laughs), an attorney by the name of Fidel Castro…



They kicked out the wealthy? No. They killed the wealthy. They killed or inprisonned anyone they believed stood between them and absolute rule. Does the congresswoman even know anyone who has lived under Fidel Castro? Where I come from Cubans have a completely diferent take on Castro and the murderous thug Che.



If Watson ever finds herself curious about the real Cuba, I'd strongly suggest she come to Florida.



Silly me. I used Watson (liberal) and curious in the same sentence.



Michelle has the transcript and a link to Cuban "health care". A great source on Cuba is Babalu. You can start with the latest post.

For My Friends

For Manny and Diana, I'm so glad you're here and a part of my life. If things were different, if things were as they should be, we wouldn't know each other and my life would be poorer for it. For you, I wish things were different. Bless you on Cuban Resistance Day and every day.

Obama And Consistency

Via Babalu:

Krauthammer on Honduras via NRO

Well, the president has a knack for getting all of these big decisions wrong. Two weeks ago, he refuses to meddle in a country where peaceful demonstrators are getting shot by a theocratic dictatorship. He doesn't want to choose sides.

And now he's eager to meddle on behalf of the president in Honduras who is a Chavez wannabe, who is strong-arming his way to a referendum—that has been declared illegal by his Supreme Court—as a way to...establish a constituent assembly which will establish a new constitution, which will be a Chavez-like dictatorship.

In both Iran and Honduras, President Obama has been absolutely consistent. He is against freedom. He has stated repeatedly that he would meet with Ahmadinejad without preconditions and current events haven’t changed his mind. He wants to ‘normalize’ relations with Chavez and Bashar al-Assad. Now, he is calling for the re-instatement of a president who has acted in direct contradiction to his own country’s Constitution. What are we to make of that? Is up now down?

If Barack Obama symbolizes anything, it is not hope or change; it is The Ruling Class and the concentration of power. How many times since the swearing in has he announced, “I’ve appointed …who will report directly to me.”? We’re up to what, twenty ’czars’, replete with staffs and multi-million dollar budgets, accountable to one man only. And now we have word of a Queen.

If Obama seems at best unconcerned about the ‘will of the people’ in other lands he has been contemptuous towards the opinions of the citizens in his own country. To his credit, he’ll never be accused of ruling by poll results.

The upshot is that Obama admires the Ahmadinejads, Chavezs and Castros of the world. Look for more and more control to become more and more concentrated.

Friday Night Roundup

Pat Austin at So It Goes In Shreveport posts on Cap and Trade here and here. Both posts are well worth the read. My suggestion now that this economy wrecking bill has passed in the House, get a second job. Babalu has the cost at $12,021.75 per family.

El Campeador has the latest pearls of wisdom from Joe Biden. What I say except that’s our Joe, ever thoughtful and one heartbeat away…

Paco has his Happy Feet Friday up. If you haven’t much to smile about lately it is a good place to start.

The Other McCain has become the hands down, hands on, go to guy on the IG scandal. So much for the Administration’s promises of transparency and accountability.

When you think you’ve heard it all, consider this Jewish School Held Racist. Apparently it is racist to require student at Jewish schools to be Jewish. Who knew?

Do you ever think about what really happens just 90 miles from our border?

Lastly, a tribute to freedom.

PETA Supports The Brutal Murder Of People Not Flies

I came across the picture of Che Guevara's 24 year-old granddaughter, Lydia, yesterday at Track-A-'Crat. Today I stumbled across Kill Cubans Not Flies at Babalu's.

"Human beings often don't think before they act," laments PETA while explaining their reaction to President Obama's unthinking fly "execution." "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals."

Apparently the blockheads at PETA learned everything they need to know about Che Guevara from Benicio Del Toro. A much more honest depiction of Guevara was written by Dr. Douglas Young:

The real Guevara was a reckless bourgeois adrenaline-junkie seeking a place in history as a liberator of the oppressed. But this fanatic’s vehicle of “liberation” was Stalinism, named for Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, murderer of well over 20 million of his own people. As one of Castro’s top lieutenants, Che helped steer Cuba’s revolutionary regime in a radically repressive direction. Soon after overthrowing Batista, Guevara choreographed the executions of hundreds of Batista officials without any fair trials. He thought nothing of summarily executing even fellow guerrillas suspected of disloyalty and shot one himself with no due process.Che was a purist political fanatic who saw everything in stark black and white. Therefore he vociferously opposed freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, protest, or any other rights not completely consistent with his North Korean-style communism. How many rock music-loving teens sporting Guevara t-shirts today know their hero supported Cuba’s 1960s’ repression of the genre? How many homosexual fans know he had gays jailed?

Did PETA think through the symbolism of using Che Guevara, and his granddaughter, in their campaign? If the answer is “yes” it speaks volumes to the PETA mentality.