Why won’t he DIE!
Get the feeling that the deal Pinochet cut with the Devil and the CIA is pretty water tight? How does this bad bugger just keep living? Could it be that Pinochet realizes he has to answer to someone on the other side about the 3000 people who went missing during his violent American supported coup?
How come innocent people in Darfur have to die, but this evil prick keeps living – come on, just for once wouldn’t it be nice for the bad buggers to get their just desserts?
Pinochet still seriously ill but improving
SANTIAGO - Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is still seriously ill following a heart attack but is improving, doctors said today.
"The risk of death is diminishing," Dr. Juan Ignacio Vergara of Santiago's military hospital, told reporters. "But it still exists because of all the complications that might arise."
posted by Bomber @ 11:53 am
44 comments
44 Comments:
Be good to see Castro croak also :)
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Pinochet is much more of a monster than Castro ever was
Sure Bomber...whatever...tell that to all the homosexuals he locks up in concentration camps for starters...ever wondered what happens to the people who oppose him? Might be worth considering before such bland pronouncements...
Maybe they can revive Pinochet enough to prop him up in front of a firing squad before he croaks, just so he doesn't miss his own execution! Would be nice also if they could include Bush Sr. as he was one of the guys at CIA that installed Pinochet in the first place. It might help Allende rest more peacefully.
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Sure Semisi...whatever...weren't you making bland pronoucements with your 'I wish Castro would croak' - Hey Cuba has its issues, but Castro isn't in the same league as Pinochet.
Pinochet living on sick and suffering is probably better than him dying peacefully in his sleep the c*nt...
And Cuba, ah Castro, that darling of the left, his crimes will one day be exposed to be of the same nature as Mao's and Stalin's, although on a much smaller scale...
What a bizarre thing to say Bomber. Castro and Guevara shot just as many people and have imprisoned many more. Cuba is currently an economic basketcase, while Chile enjoys the highest standards of living in South America. And at least Pinochet returned Chile to democratic rule eventually. What makes him so special Bomber? Or do you only think right wing dictators are evil?
The only reason Amerika would make Cuba "It's Buddy" would be that Jeb Bush and friends were able to sneak across and buy up all the Beach Front Real-Estate after Fidel's last breath. It's that or maybe the Bush Family and Cheney think they need some more room to expand Git-mo.
If ever there was a benevolent Dictator - Fidel Castro is the one. He rules Cuba more from the heart than from the end of a gun, unlike the bastards slightly to the north of Cuba.
Blair, Deano, Semisi Sunvizor - You should do a little more research into Cuba's history before you start barking tall tales about what "you think" Fidel is all about. Your words are typical of the whiny loser Cuban refugees taking up space and tax dollars in Florida. There's much more to the book than the cover lads.
Sure Sam, its a "Workers Paradise" just like North Korea...
Check out this from that bastion of imperialism, Amnesty International:
http://news.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250142000?open&of=ENG-CUB
Or how about Clause 2 of Article 117, Section Seven, of the Cuban Penal Code, which was used to try and execute three persons who attempted to flee Cuba in a stolen Fery Boat (Who caused no injury toany other person in doing so) "PIRACY: Whosoever, by any means, steals, captures, or takes possession of a vessel or airplane, deviates it from its route or interferes in its normal operations, or endangers the safety of the same." The sentencing guidelines stipulate imprisonment between 10 to 20 years or death".
Yeah real benevolent...
Human Rights watch is obviously another subversive tool of imperialism Sam...
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/
Interesting reading ay...so much more a better place than the terrible US...
Blair.
Basket case?
Where do you get your information?
The following must be taken in context of the 50 yr economic war waged against Cuba by the most powerful Nation on Earth. I think it is a remarkable achievement and a case study often ignored by those who maintain that socialism is unworkable.
Historically, Cuba has had some of the highest rates of education and literacy in Latin America, both before and after the revolution. All education is free to Cuban citizens including university education
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba
The Cuban government operates a national health system and assumes full fiscal and administrative responsibility for the health care of its citizens. Historically, Cuba has long ranked high in numbers of medical personnel and has made significant contributions to world health since the 19th century. According to World Health Organization statistics, life expectancy and infant mortality rates in Cuba have been comparable to Western industrialized countries since such information was first gathered in 1957, including before the revolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba
Good medical care is freely available for all, there is 98% literacy, and Cuba's infant mortality rates compare favourably with western nations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/244974.stm
The Cuban people has been the principal shield in terms of Fidel's physical integrity, the witness stated. That is a far cry from the alleged police repression claimed by the Revolution's enemies as an obstacle to the success of their plans.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/141.html
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Sam - GREAT FUCKING POST BRO! Really well said, now - for Semisi and GWB
You are right, not all is well in Cuba, many of the restrictions are wrong, and I can't help but wonder how much of that level of oppression would exist if it wasn't for all the dreadful stunts America has pulled in trying to over throw a leader who has done more for the people of his country in terms of education and equality than any of the CIA coup fuelled banana republics of South America. If we are trading human rights violation websites though, how about we look at you blessed state of America. Hmmm, for a 'Democracy' that believes in 'Freedom' they don't seem to stack up so well do they.
http://www.hrw.org/wr2k3/us.html
Brewer, if Socialism is so great, why does Cuba need to trade with the US? Its certainly free to trade with every other country I can think of...
Also, do you contend that Human Rights Watch is also an "Enemy of the Revolution"
Bomber,
In every Marxist regime that has ever existed there has been a "Level of oppression"...It would be drawing a long bow to suggest that that which exists in Cuba is a result of US "Interference".
Be curious if you could actually address some of the points raised by Human Rights Watch please, for example, the fact that the Cuban Government, as the most basic level, treats nonviolent activities, such as meeting to discuss the economy, or writing to the government, as criminal activities...
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GWB - for the period of time Cuba has existed as a state and the level of aggression America has aimed at Cuba - NO it is not a long bow to draw AT ALL and the fact that right wing exiled Cubans have such a voice in Florida is a key stumbling block to the normalisation of relations - if the US can visit Vietnam....
And I note thyat you don't try and answer any of the crticisims aimed at your beloved America by the very same organisation you are using to hang Fidel with. For a man who signs his posts here with the initials of its leader, I expected a much firmer defense.
Oh bullshit
To compare Cuba with the US's adventures is like comparing Aramoana with the Holocaust - ok probably a bad metaphor but the point remains. Id rather live under Castro than Pinochet any day of the week, and im hardly left wing.
Castro pulled the finger at the US for 40+ years, survived god knows how many attempts on his life, and has just pisssed the US off - thats it really...
Pinochet.......well.....where to start.....
Funny that for all the fact that the 'western lifestyle' is such a bad thing, people still risk life and limb trying to cross to Florida on pretty much anything that will float...doesn't seem to be happening the other way around...bit strange really.
Snigie you might be surprised that some of the people who had their houses stolen from them by Castro's government might actually want them back as well...
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Good call SDM - and yes deano, people having to flee any country by those means suggests problems - but those could be solved if America weren't so pig headed and spiteful
Cuba has achieved many good things for it people, the embargo is a cold war relic and should go...if it doesn't I could see either China or Russia trying to exert influence there in future and then the States would have missed a golden opportunity to normalise relations. I do think the damage done to the Cuban economy is over played as it can trade with the rest of the world but that stigma hardly makes it a great place to do business with when the US so roundly opposes it. No doubt the lifting of the embargo would help the people, and for that reason alone they should do it given the fact that Cuba poses zero threat now and they're creating a mountain out of a mole hill.
Hey bomber whats your view on the whole Fiji situation, I expected some post on that.
Sort it!! lol
Actually the US gives automatic citizenship to refugees from Cuba...how is that "Pig Headed and Spiteful"?
Snige wrote:China dosnt have a shit show of getting in, no one does like the US
Who would have thought the Soviet Union would have when it did, a few years earlier Cuba was all friendly with the USA...things can change very quickly. I know the US is the most likely, but its hardly courting them, IF say a China or Russia did try and make a move the US response would probably be as thought out as the current lingering embargo.
I think the US would be wise to get in with Cuba whilst it is still "the only world super power"....$2 shop items here we come
See in the paper this morning that he's getting better.
Anyone else see the uncanny resemblance between Pinochet and Creosote from "The Meaning of Life"?
NS
bomber, wheres the anti smacking and fiji blogs?! get onto it!
All I was pointing out was that Guevara had around 5000 people shot in cold blood when he came to power, and until a few years ago, Cuba had the world's highest per capita number of prisoners of conscience in the world. Now, as I say, chucking 3000 people out of an aeroplane is no way to run a country, but the condemnation of Pinochet is rather shrill when compared to the muted reaction the left have toward the atrocities of their own fellow travellers.
Now to points raised regarding Cuba:
Cuba cannot use the embargo as an excuse for its appaling economic performance. Most other large economies trade with it. Vietnam has also had an embargo and is doing far better. The "it's America's fault" excuse doesn't wash.
I am sure Cuba has an amazing big government that does wonderful things. Why do so many people want to leave? Why have so many people already risked their lives to leave and live in Florida, where, strangely enough, they actually have the freedom to "whine"? And if it's so bloody fantastic, why don't you all go live there? I'll tell you why: because deep down you know your rhetoric is horseshit.
I've seen photos of Cuba's hospitals and schools. Like any socialist country, the animals who are more equal than others (ie. party officials) get care the envy of the world in hospitals and schools showcased to foreign lefties who come to drool at Castro's feet. The proles get run-down dilapidated hovels last renovated during the Batista regime. SOCIALISM DOESN'T WORK. Again, I challenge you, if it's so great, why don't you emigrate?
Blair.
I’d be very interested in your sources on Guevara.
With regard to the embargo. If it doesn’t hurt, why does America apply it? Of course it hurts. Shut off from the World’s biggest market just a short boat ride away? Forced to deal with far away States with soft currency? I’ll bet it hurts like hell.
Now why do people leave?
Firstly, America encourages illegal immigration from one country only – Cuba:
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_cuba_policy
Secondly, given the false image of American Paradise that is promulgated in cinema, TV and the media generally, I am not astonished that young Cubans envy that more than they value the social services at home. I went to Australia as a sixteen year old. At that time NZ was a cradle to the grave social welfare state. Australia did not have Healthcare. I know better now. Now is a much better time to go since Australia outdoes us in social capital.
Emigration? I think about it every day.
Really? I'd chip in for a one way ticket if you Castro worshippers buggered off tothe workers paradise of Cuba for good.
To add to Brewer's post, when looking at the 40 year trade embargo, another consideration that isn't being taken into account is the influence that America weilds over it's trading partners.
Small countries would not survive if America pulled the plug on their being able to trade in the U.S.. Don't think for a second that there isn't talk between trade representatives about who not to trade with and the consequences involved when it comes to Cuba. Viva Fidel - continue to give the yanks a big Brown-Eye!
I also question the stat's by Blair on Guevara, and I would also be willing to chip in on a half way ticket for whatshisfuck to go jump in the middle of the Pacific from a rapidly moving jet. Where do these knuckleheads come from anyway?
Must be transplants from the crumbling right of the Neocon bumblers who have systematically screwed the world into the ground through wars at every opportunity since WW-II.
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Well Sams post wasn't really 'temper, temper' there Anon, although your little diatribe kinda falls into that category. Sam makes some solid points, you on the other hand simply sound wounded 'you guys say such nasty stuff about my mate america but your lot are as bad' - I just don't think your points stack up. No one claims Cuba is perfect, but neither is it the killing fields you want to paint it as, especially when many of those excesses are a direct response to the aggression America has constantly directed at Cuba.
Er where did I say "you say nasty stuff about my mate America?" What makes you think I'm any kind of cheer leader for America? Beleive it or not, not everyone slighty to the right of you is a CIA operatetive or neocon shill. I'm not a big fan of the States at all, I'm just tired of the far left focusing solely on America's trangressions while supporting the likes of Castro at the same time. I'm surprised you haven't found some angle with which to blame the problems in Fiji and Tonga on the US yet.
"I would also be willing to chip in on a half way ticket for whatshisfuck to go jump in the middle of the Pacific from a rapidly moving jet" Yep, real calm collected response there Bomber.
You can keep claiming that everything wrong in Cuba is America's fault till the cows come home but that doesn't make it so.
I agree with your sentiments about GWB's attitudes to sex, homosexuality in particular, how about the way Homosexuals are treated in Cuba? You can hardly blame that on the US, infact if Castro really wanted to thumb his nose at Bush he could do worse than leaglising same sex marriage.
"killing fields" - nice straw man there Bomber. If that's you argument then: No one claims USA is perfect, but neither is it the killing fields you want to paint it as.
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Sorry, you post anonymously, and a lot of the anonymous posters are always the ones championing America, add a tag to your posts so I can tell which ones are yours and make it easier and you can claim America is as pure as the driven snow till the cows come home, but it doesn't mean that it is so does it Anon. Again. For you Anon. No one is saying Cuba is perfect.
Um, and seeing as America were responsible for the killing fields, you may wish to change your last point there
Right, my offer for a half way ticket is off the table! You'll just have to pay for your own half way ticket, so there!
I'm still trying to figure out your point there - Anony-moose. Are you pissed off because Fidel doesn't like Gay's? Everyone is entitled to their quirks. Is it because he takes a less than Biblical stance on dealing with them?
The man is a true Socialist - he believes in Marxism for Christ sake. He doesn't waver with the base constituency. Fidel is a lot more straight forward in his leadership style than many so called - world leaders. People are either completely loyal to him and love him, or want to kill him. Cuba, considering the weight placed on it's economic shoulder's by the U.S., has doen pretty well overall without having to kiss America's butt and crawl back to the "Non-Socialist" fold asking forgivness for their sins.
Viva Fidel - and a one finger salute to you and uncle George.
Fidel Castro and human rights:
http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/bofill111197.html
The massive executions, through secret trials without procedural safeguards of any type; the disappearances of the mortal remains of executed political opponents; the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of opponents, either through kangaroo courts that did not even provide defendants with attorneys or through the so-called ``files of the socially dangerous;'' the tortures, the cruel and degrading treatment, and the inhuman living conditions that officially became known as ``The Secret War of Extermination of Every Form of Deviation or Resistance to the Cuban Governmental Ideology;'' the implacable religious persecution; the discrimination -- apartheid-style -- enforced for reasons of political opinion or religious belief; the denial of freedom of movement and the forced exile of Cubans who live abroad; the total disappearance of freedom of speech, of assembly, of peaceful association, of union rights, and of every civil and political right that are the bases of modern society.
These are all part of the catalogue of crimes of Fidel Castro's Cuba that the international community began to notice only a few years ago. The ignorance of many, and the silent complicity of others, made possible a net balance of victims and a much greater catastrophe than would have been true had the cries for help been listened to much earlier. Although a part of the truth about the human costs of Castroism have begun to be known, there still are few places where a just analysis of this critical period in the existence of Cuban society can be heard. Recently, some specialized human-rights delegations visited Cuba, including executives of Americas Watch, the Committee for Human Rights of the Bar of the City of New York, Amnesty International, the International Red Cross and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. But by examining the reports prepared by the aforementioned first three organizations, it is clear that they have done little more than scratch the surface of the national reality of this subtropical island.
Unlike other countries examined by these groups, in a Stalinist state there is no access to any independent information about the government; there are no religious groups that monitor human-rights abuses, there is absolutely no history of any independent press, there are no international journalists based in the country, etc. It is difficult for foreigners just arrived and without any experience in the context of Stalinist structures to obtain adequate information that would permit the formulation of responsible opinions.
The predecessors of you ultra-lefties were sucking Stalin and Mao's cocks...and now it's Castro.
But hey, he opposes America, so he's okay, right? let's stick our heads in the sand some more.
Jesus Deano, just when I was beginning to think you are literate I find that your post is a cut and paste from a think piece by a Cuban emigre giving no references for any of his allegations. How ‘bout a few independent sources?
Okay, how about Human Rights Watch? They unbiased enough for you?
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/
It is a very long report, but a few selected passages tell the tale:
Over the past forty years, Cuba has developed a highly effective machinery of repression. The denial of basic civil and political rights is written into Cuban law. In the name of legality, armed security forces, aided by state-controlled mass organizations, silence dissent with heavy prison terms, threats of prosecution, harassment, or exile. Cuba uses these tools to restrict severely the exercise of fundamental human rights of expression, association, and assembly. The conditions in Cuba's prisons are inhuman, and political prisoners suffer additional degrading treatment and torture
Cuban authorities continue to treat as criminal offenses nonviolent activities such as meeting to discuss the economy or elections, writing letters to the government, reporting on political or economic developments, speaking to international reporters, or advocating the release of political prisoners. While the number of political prosecutions has diminished in the past few years, Cuban courts continue to try and imprison human rights activists, independent journalists, economists, doctors, and others for the peaceful expression of their views, subjecting them to the Cuban prison system's extremely poor conditions.
While Cuba's domestic legislation includes broad statements of fundamental rights, other provisions grant the state extraordinary authority to penalize individuals who attempt to enjoy their rights to free expression, opinion, press, association, and assembly. In recent years, rather than modify its laws to conform to international human rights standards, Cuba has approved legislation further restricting fundamental rights
Far from relinquishing control over freedom of expression, association, press, and movement, in recent years the Cuban government has created new mechanisms to strengthen its repressive authority
Cuba retains the death penalty for several crimes and adopted it for two additional crimes in early 1999. Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment as an inherently cruel practice often carried out in a discriminatory manner. Furthermore, the fallibility of all criminal justice systems creates the risk that innocent persons will be executed even when full due process of law is respected. The Cuban legal system's serious procedural failings and lack of judicial independence practically guarantee miscarriages of justice. Cuban law affords convicts sentenced to death minimal opportunities to appeal their sentences. Cuba's reliance on the Council of State—an entity presided over by President Castro, selected by the Cuban National Assembly, and considered the "supreme representation of the Cuban State" under national law—as the ultimate arbiter in death penalty cases denies defendants a meaningful avenue of appeal.
Cuba confines its sizable prison population under substandard and unhealthy conditions, where prisoners face physical and sexual abuse. Cuban prison practices fail in numerous respects to comply with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
Wielding its position as virtually the only source of jobs in the state-controlled economy, the Cuban government exercises strict control over labor rights. Cuba not only bans independent labor groups and harasses persons attempting to form them but also factors criticism of the government into hiring and firing decisions. Official control over labor rights extends to the booming foreign investment sector, where foreign companies can only hire Cuban employees through government-controlled employment agencies. And Cuba's extensive prison labor program, meanwhile, fails to observe basic principles for the humane treatment of prisoners and violates an international ban on forced labor, by requiring political prisoners to work.
The Cuban government bars regular access to its prisons by domestic and international human rights and humanitarian monitors. Cuba barred the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), which visits prisoners in custody for political and security offenses all over the world, from conducting prison visits in 1989. Cuba's refusal to allow human rights and humanitarian groups access to its prisons represents a failure to demonstrate minimal transparency
This report shows that Cuba's treatment of political prisoners in some cases rises to the level of torture, violating Cuba's obligations under the Convention against Torture and under the Universal Declaration
Cuba frequently subjects nonviolent dissidents to arbitrary arrests and detentions. Human rights activists and independent journalists are among the government's most frequent targets, along with independent labor organizers, religious believers, members of independent political parties, organizations of independent academics and medical professionals, environmental activists, and others
While Cuba permits greater opportunities for religious expression than it did in past years, the government still maintains tight control on religious institutions, affiliated groups, and individual believers
Cuba continues to criminalize unauthorized attempts to leave the island as "illegal exit." Cuba's failure to revoke this law calls into question its willingness to legitimize the basic right of its citizens to leave their country. Cuba also maintains its crime of "illegal entry," which has been used to penalize Cuban citizens returning to their homeland. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right of all citizens to leave their country and to return to their country.
Using a technique pioneered by my colleague Deano, I present a further indictment from Human rights watch (apologies for the long post.):
The United States government has been widely condemned for violating basic human rights in the fight against terrorism. Since 2001, the Bush administration has authorized interrogation techniques widely considered torture, including by its own Department of State in its annual human rights reports. It has held an unknown number of detainees as “ghosts” beyond the reach of all monitors, including the International Committee of the Red Cross. And it has become the only government in the world to seek legislative sanction to treat detainees inhumanely.
In addition to focusing on U.S. counterterrorism practices, Human Rights Watch in 2005 continued to work on other pressing human rights concerns in the United States, including abysmal prison conditions, continued use of the death penalty, racial disparities (brought to public consciousness in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath), and increasingly restrictive asylum and other immigration policies.
Guantanamo Bay and Military Commissions
Approximately 505 men remain in long-term indefinite detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The United States continues to assert authority to hold “enemy combatants” without charges and without regard to the laws of armed conflict as long as the war on terror continues.
International Treaty Obligations
The United States submitted two human rights reports this year, one to the Committee against Torture (CAT) on its compliance with the Convention against Torture and one (eight years overdue) to the Human Rights Committee on its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Unfortunately, the reports are little more than a compendium of laws and selected federal legal proceedings. The Bush administration says little in either report about its counter-terrorism detention and interrogation policies or about other U.S. actions—whether by federal, state, or local authorities—inconsistent with U.S. treaty obligations.
Detainee Abuse
Reports of abuse of detainees in U.S. custody in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, and at secret detention facilities continue to mount. Since 2002, over three hundred specific cases of serious detainee abuse have surfaced. At least eighty-six detainees have died in U.S. custody since 2002, and the U.S. government has admitted that at least twenty-seven of these cases were criminal homicides.
The abuse did not end after Abu Ghraib became public; U.S. military personnel have revealed new cases of abuse in 2004 at forward-operating bases in Afghanistan and Iraq, where prisoners are kept temporarily. Detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, scores of whom now have access to legal counsel, have made new allegations of prisoner mistreatment.
Al-Marri and Padilla
For most of 2005, the United States continued to detain in a U.S. navy brig two men whom President Bush has designated “enemy combatants” because of alleged links to al Qaeda. Both men were arrested in the United States and have been held for over three years, mostly in solitary confinement.
On November 22, one of the men, Jose Padilla, who is a U.S. citizen, was indicted on criminal charges. The Bush administration decision to bring Padilla into the civilian criminal justice system means that the Supreme Court likely will no longer hear Padilla’s challenge to an appellate court ruling that the president may subject American citizens to indefinite military detention without criminal charge or trial.
The other suspect, Qatari student Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, was denied a writ of habeas corpus by a federal court in 2005 on grounds that President Bush has the authority to detain as enemy combatants non-citizens residing in the United States. Lawyers for al-Marri have also filed suit against U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, challenging the harsh conditions, including virtually complete isolation and denial of reading material, under which he initially was held.
Incarceration
The United States incarcerates people at a greater rate than any other country, 724 per one hundred thousand residents. Seven million people—or one in every thirty-one persons—is in prison, or on probation or parole. Black men between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine are seven times more likely than their white counterparts to be in prison or jail. More than six hundred thousand people annually leave prison, most of them to return to distressed minority neighborhoods, facing formidable barriers to successful reentry, including laws that limit their access to education, housing, and jobs.
The Death Penalty and Other Cruel Sentences
As of November 4, forty-eight people had been executed in 2005. Evidence of the arbitrariness and procedural flaws in the imposition of the sentence continue to grow. Since 1973, 121 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence, including one in 2005.
In February, the Bush administration said it would comply with the 2004 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the United States should review and reconsider the cases of fifty-one Mexican citizens on death row because it had failed to give the Mexicans access to diplomatic officials after they were arrested. This victory was a Pyrrhic one. In March, Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice sent a letter to the United Nations formally withdrawing from the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention that the United States had violated—a protocol under which the ICJ could hear disputes about consular rights in the Convention that the United States itself proposed in 1963 and ratified in 1969.
Katrina
The Gulf Coast suffered the nation's worst natural disaster in August, when Hurricane Katrina killed over one thousand people, displaced millions, and shut down public services for more than a month. When the mayor of New Orleans called on residents to evacuate in anticipation of the storm, those with automobiles or financial resources left. Those who were too poor to leave stayed behind, most of them African American. Media coverage of the hurricane tore away national blinders on the enormous class and racial divide in the country: no one could ignore the significance of poor people of color trapped on rooftops asking for help in the days following the storm.
Immigration
A law passed this year amends U.S. asylum policy in ways that violate international legal standards. Asylum seekers in the United States must now prove their persecutor's reasons for harming them, i.e. they must show what their persecutor was or would be thinking. Judges may now require asylum seekers to obtain corroborating evidence (which is often difficult to obtain) for their claims. Any inconsistency between asylum seekers’ statements is now a valid reason to withhold protection, even if the inaccuracy is not relevant to the claim. The legislation also severely restricts opportunities for non-citizens ordered removed to have their cases reviewed by a federal judge.
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/usdom12292.htm
Well, the scales are yet to tip there Deano, George-II and Fidel are running neck & neck - with just one exception. Your fowl mouth and shit for brains attitude for anyone daring to be even slightly left of your "Exclusive Bretheren" Ideology.
To give you a little hint, it's the bit about leftie liberal "cocksuckers". It gives away your politiko-leaning and labels you as a total fuckwit with no hope of credibility in any blog circles other than those with similar leanings.
Most blog sites would consider you a troll. ie.. someone who has no sunstantive offerings, solutions or debates, and is only there to disrupt the flow of the rational dicourse of ideas between those seeking truth.
Originally this post was on Pinochet. It seems to have been hi-jacked and taken a side-street to Castroville and Cuba.
Brewer's disclosure on the human rights record of the U.S. is only relative to the little shrub's reign of terror since his self inflicted rise to power in 2000.
Papa Bush on the other hand has been the REAL sideshow to watch - he has been the guy steering the bus with Chile's Coup that brought Pinochet the Butcher to power, melted Nicaragua, and El Slavador and Panama, created economic chaos in Argentina that aided in the war effort of Britain's ( the last surviving Empire until the rise of "Amerika-the-Hut") against the Falkland's. Iran/Contra which undermined the Jimmy Carter Presidency and saw Reagan installed in the "October Surprise", then swept everything under the carpet with presidential immunities passed around for the perp's. Later Bush the father humbly accepted the reins of power and proceeded to unleash the Military on a number of fronts, the only legitimate one was in chasing Saddam out of Kuwait. He continued to undermine China, South America, fund Iraq in their Iran war effort, and ransom Colombia to the "War on Drug's" that He & Reagan started as a funding tool for the DEA and CIA coffers that by that time were running out of "pay-off" funds for the Mujahadeen (Osama & Co.) in Afghanistan, Pakistan's General Musharaf, The Saudi Royal Family's cut of the pie ect, ect, ect... Oh, terribly sorry, I should say "funding Terrorists" shouldn't I. I always wondered if Reagan knew what he was up to? Guess we'll never know for sure unless Ollie North spills the beans when he runs out of quiet money.
Gee how conviently we forget all the baggage surrounding the radical right wing and their ill-conceived and inept management of plans for power and control of the universe. Now, how ruthless was Castro???
It's certainly a case for "Pinky & the Brain", but apparently not your brain! Next time you want to open a can of worms make sure it says WORMS on the label - not Pandora.
Get over yourself and find a new tree to roost in please.
I don't know why but I was hoping for more than that last response from you Deano - you are pathetic, but I'm sure you're a pride to your politiko comrades!
I might also add here, that it was Semisi-Sunvisor that put this off topic not Bomber you thimble-minded Gherkin, now go away! Your logic would shame a slug.
Deano.
I asked for it because I knew that I could demonstrate that your ideal capitalist democracy has delivered just as much repression, just as many violations to human dignity as Castro's socialist model. But if we look at the other side of the ledger, Cuba has delivered a society that provides health care the equal or better than any other, education on a par with the developed world and a lifestyle that is divorced from the economic imperative in spite of the economic war and campaign of sabotage waged by the most powerful nation on earth.
The U.S. on the other hand has created a society where the top 5% own 90% of the wealth and they have the highest rate of incarceration in the world. It does not deliver adequate health care, education and the legislature is hopelessly corrupt.
Now I ain't saying Castro is a gent but only a fool would assert that a radical change to an unprecedented socio/political model can be achieved without the change in consciousness that takes a generation or two.
I note that your post from HRW was dated 1999. Mine was current - 2006. A lot has happened in those seven years. I wasn't able to locate the current stats for Cuba but I'm willing to bet that HRW doesn't have the same concerns today as it did then.
Enough of sound bite factual shit. From here on it goes to another level. There are a lot of “I”s coming. Anyone wants to call me on what follows, forget it. Call me a liar and a fraud if you want to. I don’t give a rat’s arse. This is granddad speaking and nobody listens to him anyway.
I have sailed those waters. Matter of fact I have logged over 100,000 nautical miles in small boats. Could be 200,000 miles I don’t know. Whilst I haven’t been to Cuba, I know a few guys who have. In small boats. When the subject comes up, their eyes glaze and they say: “That was the best” and I know they weren’t talking about how much money they made.
I’ve drunk rum with Cuna Indian people with gold rings in their noses. I’ve danced for eight days straight, 9am to 4am during fiesta in a little village called Mochima. I’ve looked into the eyes of a Guardia Nacional in green fatigues who had his hand on his 57 Magnum and mischief on his mind and told him to get off my f*cking boat. I’ve lived and worked in the United States. I spent 5 years working for Mitsubishi, something you might understand. I’m a fifth generation New Zealander with part Maori children and grandchildren. In 1995 I sold a business I had created for exactly $1,000,000 dollars.
So what am I trying to do here. Impress you? Let me put you straight. I don’t give a monkey’s about what you think of me. It is simply that I want to convey a truth that I wish I had known forty years ago. Life is for the living. Very little is required beyond good food, music, love and a warm place to sleep.
I have seen both sides. If you want to waste your dancing years climbing a greasy pole, good luck to you. I hope that your few years in the sun bless you with the sense that it was all worthwhile. I hope that the capital you have amassed is not swallowed by some health problem that, in a cooperative society rather than a competitive one, would not absorb the product of your life’s struggle.
I think I know what suits me best.
I’d rather spend my time in a place like Cuba where, if you share the dream, you can live it. If you try to pull the whole edifice down, you might get shot.
I think I could avoid being shot. In the event that I did, I would rather be shot by a self-made man with an agenda of humanism than incarcerated and tortured by a failed chimpanzee.
Don’t ask me to defend this post. It’s just the first and probably the last based on feeling rather than logic, but what the hell? Time new territory was explored on this blog.
Good luck to you Deano, in the great lottery that is unbridled capitalism. I know you to be a righteous man despite your occasional histrionics.
Snigie.
Your last post makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. Keep 'em coming.
Now to gently gnaw on your remaining cheek Deano. After what you have just read in Brewer's comments, I'll disclose a wee bit of my background and basis for knowledge from the school of the real world as well.
I am a 5th generation ex-Patriot American former 30 yr Corporatist President, who has lived in NZ for 20yrs. I left America in disgust at what changes I was seeing there compared to the land I grew up in and loved.
I spent the last 5yrs, before sailing to New Zealand, in the Carribbean and Pacific. Spent many months sailing in and around Cuban and Mexican waters, and although I also never made it to Cuba, I lived in Jamaica and Mexico for a while, and experienced the hospitality of my country first hand through the poverty they create in both countries. Many that I met in Jamaica lived in Cuba and spoke of how they longed for home and that they should have stayed. Campfire stories I guess, eh?
I won't even try to expound anymore than that, as Brewer has given you a VERY clear idea before me, but I'll leave you with this, eloquent quote from ole stitch knee above.
"I also would rather be shot by a man with an agenda than be incarcerated and tortured by a failed Chimpanzee of a President!"
I have seen your type come and go mate, and I just smile and don't make eye contact to attract dialogue. I also fight tooth and nail to safeguard my family from ideals such as the ones you boast about. I will continue to do so until I turn to dust. And to think about where I come from - well I'm more of a center right I suppose, but I prefer realism over Idealism - especially when experience has been my teacher. Some of us learn from experience, some take advantage of others and don't. Maybe you could learn to use experience in a way that doesn't burn those who don't always think like you. Might be helpful for your condition!
Geez Brewer, 200,000 N-miles? Whew! I thought I could change my name to NEMO with a little over 70K! Don't break off anymore cutting off things and heal quickly ole salt!
Sorry Bomber, I guess your Pinochet went sideways, and we have used up a lot of space on a future topic rather than continue talk on the "Butcher of Freedom" in Chile.
He's dead now anyway, we can al relax a little bit.
At least he died knowing that he was going to be held to account for his crimes against those opposing his U.S. backed regime. Maybe that was what brought on the big one. Or, on the other hand maybe the CIA decided that silence was golden!
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