May Day, May Day, May Day...Save America!

Immigrant Boycott or International Worker’s Day? In a few hours Los Angeles and surrounding areas will be flooded with hundreds of thousands maybe a million demonstrators, as some organizers claim. The goal is to gather support for the 12 million illegal immigrants and fastrack them towards citizenship, whithout any repercussions for breaking the law. Of course, May 1, the most anti-capitalist day on the calendar is the day of choice. The most appropriate anthem should be The Iternationale, and not the Spanish bastardization of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Tijuana: Cuban women sex trafficking

I have only seen this article in Spanish, and if you are interested read it, although it is a tidbit long. The story involves the trafficking of women that in their desperation would do anything to get out of Cuba. These young women, or should I say girls, because many are as young as 18, are advertised on web sites and various other means. For the most part, they end up in arranged marriages with Mexican nationals for the sole purpose of leaving Cuba. A favorite destination is Tijuana, Mx due to its proximity to the USA (just on the other side of San Diego), where they will then quickly abandon their new husbands for a new life in the USA.

Not all end up in the USA, some (the ugly ones) have not choice and tend to stay married …you believe this? Many come to Tijuana with some experience in the world's oldest profession.

The fall of Cuba's ex-Minister Ernesto Robaina was partly due to the involvement of his wife in companies which dealt with trafficking of Cuban women.

Rad the article here.

Work Sunday, demonstrate on Monday

Today, Sunday of all days I am having my house painted by a Japanese owned company. That's right not all contractors in Southern California are Mexican; although, here is the glitch. Originally we contracted for the work to start May 1, and wrapping it up on May 2. However, the idea of painting on Sunday did not come up until yersterday, when the owner of the company called requesting a schedule change. It was not until the painters started arriving this morning, that I realized the reason behind the change...the painters are Mexican, and tomorrow May 1 is "their day off," or at least the paint company owners are anticipating that they will take off.

Right now they are working very hard to finish a 2-day job in one day.

Crunch time for castro

Here is an article that needs very little introduction, because it is actually a good summary of the general state of affairs in the island of Cuba and the effort by the world's most evil land baron to keep things intact. More surprisingly is that it was written by the LA Times, a paper that prefers to pay homage to castro and reminisce about its writer's recent trips to the socialist paradise. Because it requires registration, I have posted the whole story so you don't have to go searching for it.

Scholars See Castro Push to Preserve His Legacy

His recent crackdown on capitalism lays bare the growing disaffection among Cubans with his social and economic policies, experts say.
By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer
April 30, 2006

MIAMI — As Cuban leader Fidel Castro wages war against private enterprise, petty theft and an already shackled opposition, veteran analysts say the aging militant is striving to recover the egalitarian aims of his revolution and protect a legacy of having rescued Cuba from capitalism.

But the crackdowns also have exposed a deepening rift between a shrinking coterie of communist true believers and a society that analysts say has largely defected from his movement's core ideals of solidarity and self-sacrifice.

In an ideological endgame pitting the nearly 80-year-old leader against what analysts believe is a large and growing segment of his own people, Castro's drive to root out "imperialist" influence is provoking comparison with Mao Tse-tung's 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, which ravaged China and set back the hopes of reform for years.

Although Castro has held his island in a vice grip since his guerrilla band seized power on New Year's Day 1959, his campaigns have lately taken on an urgency. In the last year, amid indications of the bearded icon's flagging health, the regime has:

• Declared war on the "new rich," arresting those who use their cars or bicycles as taxis, seizing privately raised produce on sale at farmers markets and rescinding self-employment licenses that had allowed Cubans since 1994 to run restaurants and guesthouses in their homes.

• Increased the number of "acts of repudiation" by Communist Party militants, who track down and heckle dissidents and their families.

• Ramped up efforts to dismantle outlawed satellite dishes, and confiscated televisions and subscription decoder cards brought in by relatives visiting from abroad.

• Drafted students and aging Communist Party loyalists to stand guard at gas stations and factories to deter theft by a broad sector of state employees, a problem even the party mouthpiece Granma acknowledges has reached pandemic proportions.

• Ordered Cubans to refrain from contact with foreign tourists unless "absolutely necessary" for their jobs, claiming a need to protect citizens from ideological contamination.

The moves follow earlier rollbacks of the economic reforms implemented in the early 1990s, after the Soviet Union collapsed and Moscow cut off billions in aid to its communist ally. In November 2004, Castro formally withdrew from circulation the U.S. dollar, the foundation of the reforms for 10 years, replacing it with a new national peso. The same year, the government increased restrictions on the Internet, denying all but a few thousand government employees access.

The current crackdowns intensify what human rights groups have condemned as "a wave of repression" against political challengers that was unleashed three years ago when 75 dissidents and journalists were rounded up, accused of treason and sentenced to an average of 20 years in prison.

The only woman among those "Black Spring" political prisoners, 60-year-old economist Marta Beatriz Roque, was released last year on health grounds but has been hounded by Castro supporters since.

News reports said she was attacked and beaten by a pro-government crowd as she left her Havana home on Tuesday.

"They shout insults and pound on my door at all hours," Roque said in a recent telephone interview from Havana. The harassment shows the regime's "debility," she said, but it succeeds in intimidating Cubans too fearful of the state to condemn it.

Cuba scholars say the harsh measures reflect Castro's efforts to preserve his nation's political system and his legacy.

Castro probably sees that his successors might be inclined toward more economic and political opening, said Wayne Smith, a retired diplomat who headed the U.S. Interests Section in Havana during the Carter administration.

"I don't think it's going to re-energize people and turn people back to that form of socialism," he said of Castro's recent efforts. "That's been discredited elsewhere in the world, and it's not working very well there."

Julia Sweig, Latin American studies director at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of "Inside the Cuban Revolution," traces Castro's intolerance of dissent to his conviction that the stability of the state requires "unity at all costs."

Cubans seldom share the zeal of the revolution's founders because the system provides residents with few of the opportunities that they are smart enough to envision and able-bodied enough to pursue, she noted.

"Young people coming out of the great health and education systems don't see they really have a future," she said. "And the older generations — those who were part of the revolutionary ethos from the beginning — they're dying."

Most Cubans' commitment to sharing and solidarity "went out the window in the '90s," said Philip Peters, Cuba analyst for the Lexington Institute think tank in Arlington, Va., recalling the Cuban leadership's replacement of moral incentives with material rewards to boost production in the lean years after Soviet aid stopped.

"I think it was always clear that during some of the market-oriented changes made in the '90s that Castro was holding his nose," Peters said. "One reason was because those changes produced inequalities in the society."

Granma has been exposing case after case of "unscrupulous elements" engaging in black-market commerce. The Communist Party newspaper disclosed last month that theft of medications and healthcare equipment, from factories as well as hospitals and clinics, had become so chronic that some patients couldn't get vital treatment.

The volumes of food disappearing from state warehouses also suggest thievery from top to bottom. As in former communist states in Eastern Europe, there is little sense of wrongdoing among Cubans who take home part of what they produce to sell and stretch salaries that average less than $15 a month.

"The bulk of economic crimes that exist in Cuba are small-scale — people who don't have hard-currency income who steal a chicken from the restaurant where they work or sell a little gasoline on the side from their company's pump so they can put meat on the table that weekend," Peters said.

A high-profile campaign against corruption has been underway for at least three years, but Castro disclosed the severity of the problem when he warned in November that the very fate of the revolution was at risk amid such moral failures.

"He's trying to relight the fire. But no one goes to the fire," said Damian Fernandez, head of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. Castro can still turn out half a million people for big anti-American protests, he said, "but they're bused there and they go because it's a big fiesta or their jobs depend on it."

The revolutionary fervor has irrevocably faded, he said, because "the regime that produced equity in the 1960s now produces inequity," with high-ranking Communist Party members benefiting from development of tourist resorts that ordinary Cubans aren't even allowed to enter.

"Fidel frankly dislikes capitalism. He has this very romantic notion that money corrupts, that money is bad," Fernandez said. "He genuinely believes that."

Jaime Suchlicki, director of the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, likens Castro's actions to the brutalities of the Cultural Revolution. Just as Mao relied on the Red Guards, Castro deploys special enforcement squads from the Interior Ministry and the neighborhood Committees for the Defense of the Revolution to seize property, break up demonstrations and hound those who challenge the one-party order.

Although China's burgeoning middle class and growing prosperity today are due to the reforms embraced after Mao's death, Castro rejects the Chinese model, Suchlicki said.

"He went to China and came back and said they're making great advances but this is not for Cuba," Suchlicki said. "He's afraid of it, just like he was afraid of perestroika and glasnost."

Despite their severity, Castro's moves have failed to stamp out dissent.

In an attempt to draw international attention to restrictions on use of the Internet, psychologist and Angola war veteran Guillermo Farinas has been waging a hunger strike since late January. The Ladies in White, relatives of political prisoners, still march after church on Sundays, demanding the men's release.

Caleb McCarry, the U.S. State Department's Cuba transition coordinator, sees the latest crackdowns as "a sign of weakness and fear on the part of the regime." He predicts the efforts will fail to fan the revolutionary embers.

"The genie is already outside the bottle," McCarry said.

Black Cuban communist official given the boot

I read stuff like this, and I have no choice but to laugh. Let me know if you too get a chuckle.

Cuba sacks top government member

He is accused of abuse of power, arrogance and dishonesty - all characteristics, the announcement declares, which are incompatible with the expected conduct of a communist.

I do not understand, aren't these the attributes of a good communist?

Weekend Pic: Foggy Bean Town

Boston as seen from the USS Constitution Ship Museum

November 2005.

Cuban-American ascends to spiritual leadership role

I have in past ocassions expressed my delight when a Cuban-American ascends to the highest levels of any organization or enterprise in this country or anywhere in the world. If you think this is being braggadocious, you are right! Nothing makes me more proud than to see people, not just Cuban-Americans that have climbed to great heights through hard work, while expecting little in return and in the process gaining much. In this case Carlos Ferrer has done just that and in no better enterprise than in God's business.

Carlos Ferrer named NAMB’s interim leader

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)—As far as the North American Mission Board goes, Carlos Ferrer has journeyed full circle.

Ferrer, 55, is temporarily leading NAMB – the same Southern Baptist entity which in the 1960s aided a young Carlos and his family after they escaped in the darkness from Fidel Castro’s brutal regime in communist Cuba.

Read the rest here.

A little advise...

From the Daily Nexus, which is a UC Santa Barbara student online publication. I am surprised that this much common sense exists in a California university.

Wave the U.S. Flag, Not Mexico’s

By Henry Sarria
Published Wednesday April 26, 2006

So, I have to ask: Which country’s immigration policies are they protesting? The reason I ask this is based on the presence of Mexican flags carried during these protest rallies. After all, if the country you want to stay in is the United States and the laws you want to influence are of said country, why even display the Mexican flag?

Read more.

Changing the scope of May 1

I had been looking forward to the May 1 Latino boycott. The organizers initially presented it as free illegal alien day, but now, I am not so sure. And it looks like the scope is changing. Now they are calling for mass rallies, again! To make it more despicable they have chosen the one day of the calendar that it is most despised by communist survivors and anti-communists in general. May 1 always brings back memories of the newsreels showing the bellicose Soviets parading military hardware up and down Kremlin square. I said I was looking forward to it, because I thought that my commute to work would benefit from a lighter traffic, without fear of being hit by an unlicensed uninsured illegal alien motorist.

Here is slogan that we used to chant under our breath during marches in communist Cuba.

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, comiendo mierda y rompiendo zapato. Repeat!

Welcome to San Diego, MX

From Free Republic, chipping away little by little the reconquistadores move in. I wonder if Emilio and Gloria Estefan and Willie Chirino know what they are supporting.

Do they riot in Cuba?

Cubans riot in Mexico and they riot in the Caymans, but do they riot if Cuba? You would think so, and perhaps it happens more than we know, the difference is that in Cuba you will get 20 years in prision, elsewhere it may get you freedom.

Cubans Riot at Prison
A confrontation at the Fairbanks Immigration Reception Centre between Cuban migrants and law enforcement officers on Wednesday 19 April arose after migrants began making demands late in the afternoon to be returned to Cuba immediately, local authorities claimed.

MeChas receive death threat

The Governator for the state of California felt compelled to call a press conference and inform the public that ex (?) MeCha members the Mayor of Los Angeles and the Lieutenant Governor had received death threats.

Schwarzenegger: Villaraigosa Received Death Threat

SACRAMENTO, April 24, 2006 - L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, both Hispanic Democrats, have received death threats amid a national debate over immigration policy, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday.

Because these are special politicians, not to be compared to the usual "white and Republican" ones, they get to have the highest elected official of the State tell the world in a special press conference of the death threats received from some wacko(s). This is probably some of the best publicity that Cruz Bustamante has gotten since disappearing from sight after the California recall election that put Schwarzenegger in office.

Governor, you don't owe them anything. You owe your office to the people who elected you. Those two will take you down in a second if the opportunity presented itself, and it is not the illegals that will vote you into office next time.

Good for you Bubba!

Check out Babalú at his ManCamp retreat (not to be confused or compared with the Little Rascal’s He-Man Women Haters Club),which is featured in the Miami Herald Home and Design section. There is a second rate chica author from New Mexico that is probably seething at the fact that Bubba gets more publicity. It's Barnes&Noble's fault.

Is ManCamp available in a kit?

Weekend Pic: The Pelicans

St. Petersburg, FL



August 2004.

Czechs give a nice kick in the culo to Cuban diplomat

Czech Republic expels Cuban attache as reciprocal step

Prague, April 19 (CTK) - The Czech Republic today expelled the Cuban attache in Prague, refusing to extend his visa because Havana did the same to Czech diplomat Stanislav Kazecky last week, Richard Krpac from the Czech Foreign Ministry's press department has told CTK.

Havana last week expelled Kazecky whom it accused of subversive activities and work for the US.

The Czech Foreign Ministry has dismissed the accusation.

Prague today expelled Cuban attache Manuel Angel Baltar Charnicharo. He reportedly left the Czech Republic this morning. The number of Cuban diplomats in Prague has thus dropped to two.

Two Czech diplomats have remained in Cuba since Kazecky's departure.

The Czech Republic and Cuba each have missions on the charge d'affaires level in the other country, not regular embassies.

On return to Prague, Kazecky said that by his expulsion the Cuban government had reacted to the Czech foreign policy focused on human rights. In an interview with the Czech daily Lidove noviny, Kazecky admitted having supported the Cuban opposition in its resistance to Fidel Castro's regime. However, many other foreign diplomats in Havana do so, he pointed out.

The incident mirrors the standing bad relations between the Czech Republic and Cuba. Prague ranks among the largest critics of the Cuban regime in the U.N. and in the EU, and Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda wants the EU to take a tougher approach to Cuba.

Several Czech citizens have been expelled from Cuba in the past years. Last May, Castro's regime expelled Czech senator Karel Schwarzenberg who had arrived in Havana to attend a meeting organised by the local opposition.

This January, Czech model Helena Houdova and psychologist Mariana Kroftova were temporarily detained when they photographed a slum in Havana.

Still loving the Czechs.

Chavez' scorch earth policy

Chavez issues oil threat if U.S. attacks

APR. 19 5:50 P.M. ET Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday threatened his country would blow up its own oil fields if the United States were to attack.

No New News

This from a castroit news regurgitator.

Specialists from 12 nations participating in the event joined Cuba’s called for the elimination of information barriers around the globe. According to statistics, only 10 percent of the world’s population has access to Internet.

Cuba’s vice minister of Science, Technology and Environment, America Santos, urged governments to invest resources so as to include developing countries in the information society. More here.

But the access to internet that Cuba talks about, is not the same internet that you and I use.

Developing countries yesterday started an Internet-based news service, pooling their media resources to provide an alternative to what officials said was unfair coverage by the Western media.

Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama will host the “NAM News Network,” a joint effort of the 114 member countries of the Nonaligned Movement.

“We can be the balance to counter the manipulation of the Western media and to confront their influence on us,” Cuba’s ambassador to Malaysia, Pedro Monzon Barata, was quoted as saying by Bernama.

He said NNN could reduce dependency of developing countries for news coverage on the Western-controlled media, which he said often painted a negative picture. More here.

NNN = NO NEW NEWS

Back to prison for Cuban mothers and children

The sentence in the island prison just go extended for the women and children.

Cuba to try 7 women for endangering children's lives

HAVANA Seven women whose attempt to leave the island with their children was frustrated when Cuban coast guard officials opened fire on their alleged smugglers will be tried in court for endangering their children's lives, state media reported Monday.

The Communist Party daily Granma said the seven children, ages 1 to 14, had to walk through swampy terrain plagued with mosquitoes and were without water or food for two days before April 5, when they were to be picked up by migrant smugglers in the western province of Pinar del Rio.

"Once again it has been exposed how irresponsible and unscrupulous people put the lives of their children in twice as much danger: to drown during their voyage or get sick because of the bad environment chosen by the smugglers," Granma said.

She is a poser

It seems that a couple bloggers are embroiled in a debate with an author about comments she made regarding the lack of coverage on her new book by Miami newspapers. This author with hyphenated Spanish last names has an identity crisis. Let’s name her Valdeguez, in the tradition of the reconquista Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa. Antonio chose to fuse instead of hyphenate. But rather than repeat her comments, you can read them at Babalú , and La Ventanita respectively. I would direct you to her site, but you may get Cindy Sheehan instead, it’s hard to distinguish between the two.

In order to move past this cagazón, I suggest the following to the battling bloggers. Ms. Valdeguez should not be confused for a Cuban-American, she is not, and she is just a poser, a drive-by Cuban. Valdeguez is an author with a product to sell; her books revolve around “latino/Hispanic” type characters and her credibility as the author comes from posing as one. She needs to convince her readers that she identifies with her characters, and that is her way of doing it. Isn’t it interesting that the first reading of her latest book is going to be in Miami, a city that apparently she loathes? But books sell there too…duh! Good marketing, Ms. Valdeguez.

So guys, move on and let La Reina Puerca continue to live in her leftist capitalist bubble, selling her stories of little redeeming value. You have already given her too much publicity. I have seen the ranking of her books on Amazon and they are all in the 5 digits plus (low sales) and are heavily discounted.

He is Risen!

And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. Matt 28:5-6

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Matt 28:6

He is risen indeed!

Anthony is no Che

From the blog De Todos Para Todos, it seems like the murderer of the La Cabaña is a favorite hero.

Long Live the Spirit of Resistance!
Remember Che Anthony Soltero!
There Will Be Many Ches!

Anthony Soltero, 14 is the boy that shot himself in the head after being reprimanded by school officials for participating in the illegal immigration demonstrations. Activists were quick to blame others for his death and have adopted Anthony as their martyr...para la causa. Today's Los Angeles demonstration were dedicated to Anthony.

It is very sad that this boy killed himself, and no one may ever know the demons that haunted him. However, one thing is for sure, Anthony does not deserve to be associated or compared to the likes of a murderer such as Che.

Weekend Pic: Boom

The Long Valley Caldera, created about 760,000 years ago by a blast 2,500 times bigger than the Mount St. Helens.

Photo Taken: April 2006

Detroit City Council...too stupid to lead

The City of Detroit tops the nation on the poverty census, with an unemployment rate hovering over 15%. In all crime categories the City is higher per capita on all counts than the national average. But the "erudite" City Council is spending time in debating and passing resolutions that have ZERO impact on fixing the City’s problems. About 82% of the City’s population is black, which is reflected in the composition of the City Council, which is comprised of 9 members, 1 white. So you would think that the Council’s international interest would focus on the incredibly harsh treatment of blacks; specifically in Cuba, since this seems to be one the Council’s recent focus.

Detroit Demands Release of Cuban Five

Havana, April 12 (ACN).- Detroit's City Council has unanimously approved a resolution demanding the immediate release of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unjustly held in US prisons.

The text of the motion was presented by Joann Watson and Maryann Mahaffey, members of the US/Cuba Labor Exchange, the Justice for Cuba Coalition and the National Network on Cuba.

Where do these Council members come up with the gall of “demanding” anything? When their own city is in shambles and the people they represent are some of the poorest in the nation. I bet that the Cuban spies are living in better conditions and are eating better than thousands of Detroit’s citizens.

Perhaps the Council members would be interested in a little education about Cuba’s treatment of blacks; i.e. Dr. Elias Biscet, Guillermo Fariñas, et.al.

Write the Detroit City Council Members, labeled America's No. 1 Liberal City. No wonder is such a mess!

Maryann Mahaffey
Kenneth V. Cockrel Jr.
Sharon McPhail
Alberta Tinsley-Talabi
Sheila M. Cockrel
Kay Everett
Barbara-Rose Collins
Alonzo W. Bates
JoAnn Watson

If you think that it is about immigration

Then keep thinking...

From Watch Dog

And now they have a martyr

Like all good leftist movements a martyr is a must, and the leftist illegals have finally figured this out.

LOS ANGELES A student-led, pro-immigration rally that is expected to take place this weekend will be dedicated to a 14-year-old boy from Ontario who committed suicide after marching in a student walkout, organizers said Wednesday.

The march will be dedicated to Anthony Soltero, who shot and killed himself March 30. A school administrator allegedly told Soltero that he would be fined and jailed for participating in a March 28 student walkout.

Anthony’s mother, Louise Corales, said, “Anthony was learning about the importance of civic duties and rights in his eighth grade class. Ironically, he died because the vice principal at his school threatened him for speaking out and exercising those rights.”

About a year ago Soltero was placed on probration for bringing a pen knife to school. Apparently neither the mother nor he knew it was illegal to have a pen knife. Mrs. Corales (or Mrs. Soltero?) apparently has a problem along with her 12 million other compadres understading when the law is infringed.

Do the math

Castro will continue with executions as a way of eliminating those that oppose him and his failed revolution. In a 44 years period castro has executed 11.4 persons based on a monthly average.

The Cuban government does not publish statistics on the country’s prison population, individuals sentenced to death, or executions. Nevertheless, Sánchez asserts that between 5,000 and 6,000 people were executed in Cuba between 1959 and 2003, "most of them for so-called crimes against the state or offences with political connotations." Link to story.

In comparison the United States has executed and average of 2.8 persons per month over 30 years (since 1976). Therefore, it will take the United States 179 years to reach the same number of executions that Cuba has achieved in 44 years. Consideration should be given that Cuba's population is less than 4% that of the US.

Will they ask?

They will never ask about the systemic apartheid suffered by Cubans. They will stay in the nice tourist hotels, but will be blind to the fact that most hotel workers are, dare I say it, "whitish." Will they remember to ask about Dr. Elias Biscet, a black man that is rotting in castro's jail for opposing the goverment? Don't hold your breath!

ANC delegation jets off to Cuba

Havana - African National Congress leaders are in Cuba for an official visit with the Cuban Communist Party's Central Committee, Cuba's state media reported on Monday.

The party newspaper Granma said the South African group included ANC Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe, representatives of the group's youth and women's organizations as well as provincial leaders. Granma said the ANC leaders arrived over the weekend but did not say how long the group would remain in Cuba.

The African National Congress was formed in 1912 and led the fight against the apartheid government in South Africa.

Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years behind bars for opposition to white rule, became South Africa's first black president in 1994 as the ANC candidate. - Sapa-AP

Sledding in Cuba

Well, I am back from three great days of skiing at Mammoth Mountain. The mountain was in tip-top shape during our days there.

Over 617 inches of snow have fallen in the area this winter season,making conditions ideal for skiing; although, the town is still trying to dig itself from underneath it all. It is no joke, the sidewalks are gone, finding an address is next to impossible and forget about parking. You walk and take the bus. Imagine a two story home and the first floor is completely covered all the way up the second story. By the way we stayed in a condo unit on the first floor. But nonetheless we had tremendous fun. The only un-fun was filling up the car several times with gas…check out this gas prices!

The lower price for regular was on the way up the hill, on the way down the hill (2.5 days later) the pricing per gallon was up $2.99 per gallon. Ouch!

Skiing always reminds my younger days when I used to go sledding in Cuba. That’s right sledding in Cuba, and I am not talking about those “Y” shaped sleds (rastras) pulled by a team of oxen, oh no! I am talking about downhill sledding, slipping, sliding, speed and all. Let me explain.

This is something that we used to do at the family ranch, but I am sure that at least a couple of readers will instantly remember doing this or have been told stories about it. There was a hill on this ranch of ours that was cleared of all stones, branches and any other type of debris. The only thing left was a nice blanket of green grass. We would take the dried out husk (la yagua) of the Cuban royal palm tree, by “we” I mean my brother and cousins, young and adults, and we would sit on the inside of the husk, while someone standing gave us a push to get started. Soon we would be going downhill and with each passing second gaining speed and more speed. There was no way to stop it, there were no brakes, and using your hands or legs would surely get you hurt. Usually, the only way to stop was to hit something, like a fence at the bottom of the hill, which meant scrapes and bruises galore. We typically did this in the early morning when the grass was still wet from the morning dew making it very slippery. There were no ski jackets, no gloves, no ski masks, no lifts, no crowds, no price gouging, all done under the tropical sun and just pure unadulterated fun. Oh, what fun!

Here I is

Today, I find myself in the Modesto, CA. This an ugly city that is made even uglier by such notable scandals as the Gary Condit and his involvement in the Shandra Levy disappearance case, later found murdered. The Congressman was having an illicit affair with the young Levy, but was cleared of her death. The Congressman now owns and operates an ice cream parlor in Glendale, AZ. The other sordid story is that of Scott Petersen now on death row for the murder of his wife Laci and his unborn son. Petersen's family has recently offered $250,000 reward for information leading to Laci's murderer. Mr. and Mrs. Petersen, the murderer is your son Scott and he already in jail, so stop wasting your money.

I will doing very little blogging the next couple of days. I am headed to Mammoth for a 3 days ski weekend. Decompress!

I have been warning about this...

From Raul Rivero:

Castro plans to use the funds he is currently receiving from Hugo Chavez's Venezuela "to create a mini Soviet Union, and to 'extend the revolution' to other countries in the area."

LINK

And Peru's OllantaHumara seem to be on his way to surviving the first round of elections, which may eventually add another nation to the block.

A bleep on Fariñas

Cuban dissident marks two months on hunger strike

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): A Cuban dissident journalist on Friday marked two months on a hunger strike to demand Internet access, a member of his government-outlawed agency said.

Guillermo Farinas's condition is now "weak," according to his Cubanacan agency colleague Niurvys Diaz.

"His health is weak, ... he has anemia and is in serious but stable condition," Diaz said Thursday.

Farinas, 42, insists on staying on the strike, begun January 31, because the Americas' only one-party communist government cut off the Internet access he was using in a cybercafe -- with a phone card paid for in hard currency -- to transmit his agency's news reports.

Farinas, who works in Santa Clara, has been arrested several times for his anti-government activities, dissident sources said.

10 makes 63...(Update)

The number of Cuban rafters escaping the island keeps growing. Ten more just arrived in Isla de Mujeres in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, where their future is yet to be determined. Although, Mexico’s hypocritical policy is to send the "indocumentados" back to the island at the dictator's bequeath. This group now makes 63 the number that have arrived (and processed) year-to-date in the region.

The story in Spanish appears in the El Universal.

No Mexican rafters have been reported heading for Cuba.

Update: It turns out that there is a second group that the Mexican authorities have not been able to find. The raft in which the "ilegales" as the newspaper call them was found, but not Cubans. Keep moving North boys!

Pinche europeos

The wild eyed leftist Nativo López claims that he is not discouraged by the lower than expected turnout at today's "immigration" demosntration in Costa Mesa. But wait for May 1, he says.

Attendance at the rally — held during on-and-off rainfall — fell short of some expectations. Costa Mesa organizers estimated that 2,000 people in all attended today's rally at its peak. Shortly after the rally began, Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley estimated the crowd at 600, but the numbers grew as the weather improved. By noon, police estimated the crowd at 1,500.

Read more.

In response to the sign, pictured above, if we have any "illegal Europeans" in the country since 1492, don't you think that is about time they are given amnesty? However, if they arrived in this century and are here illegally, then send them back! I though, I rather make fun of the sign rather than call on its true racist message.

McKinney: Membership has its privilages

What do US Rep. Cynthia Mckinney and Cza Cza Gabor have in common? Slapping officers, dahling. However, unlike Cza Cza, Mckinney is black and will be held to a different standard. She recruited Bush haters Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover to stand by her side during her press conference as she turns her "indignant above the law rage" into a civil rights case.

In a news conference featuring actor Danny Glover and singer Harry Belafonte, McKinney said she would be exonerated and that "this whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me, a female, black congresswoman."

Link.