Back in 1959 the Cubans blindly followed the hollow promises of a charismatic populist who spoke with great eloquence, and whose speeches captivated the imagination of the citizenry. He filled their hearts with hope and promised to change the nation into an Utopic society that would become the envy of the world.
Since his first days in power, the would-be-savior wasted no time persecuting, incarcerating, exiling and executing members of the previous regime regardless of their levels of culpability. The captured were dealt severe sentences dispensed by revolutionary tribunals, who often times denied defense counsels to the accused.
Once convicted, the sentences were swiftly executed in a public and brutal manner for a duality of purposes, to eliminate the opposition and instill fear among the rest of the population. Unbeknown to most then, the fundamental transformation of Cuba had begun.
In true Stalinists fashion new lists of villains emerged on a daily basis. They started with the “dreaded” rich, then the business owners, the religious organizations, the private clubs, the media outlets, in short, all institutions became under attack. Everything needed to be destroyed and recreated in a manner that would please the leader’s messianic visions of the future.
One of the most hurtful aspects of this process was the silence and complicity with which many of our fellow citizens accepted the lawlessness of the regime. As the abuses increased and the repression grew unabated, large segments of the population out of fear, apathy and even envy, opted to look the other way. Even as the injustices intensified and became more blatant, the majority said nothing; lest they become targets themselves.
The Callus Revolution: As the government continued to trample over the civil society, a curious thing began to happen. Well known sycophants of the regime began to have overnight epiphanies that would transform them from supporters to dissidents the minute their own interests were at stake. This phenomenon did not go unnoticed by the populace, who began to call the Cuban revolution by the name of the Callus Revolution. The name was in honor of all the suddenly “enlighten souls” whose enlightenment had occurred only after their calluses (or toes) had been stepped on.
Those of us who lived the above events, never imagined that we would experience those moments again at the home of the brave and the land of the free. And yet, we have once again been forced to watch in disbelieve how the mainstream media and large segments of our population have remained indifferent to the relentless assault on our laws, values and institutions.
Many of our countrymen gazed at the administration’s theft of the GM bondholders’ property with a yawn. They remained aloof when informed about the abusive taxes and regulations levied against our industries. Uninterested about the government agencies’ overreach to silence and intimidate the opposition. Ignorant of the media’s under reporting and cover up of unabashed corruption, misappropriations, and provisioning of contracts and grants to companies belonging to cronies. And uninformed about the lack of transparency and oversight employed by a profoundly corrupt administration.
Our compatriots have shown little interest in the tyrannical way the IRS, EPA, DOJ, NSA, etc. have wielded their powers to harass citizens and journalists for the “crimes” of disagreeing or embarrassing the government. And they have not cared much about the Machiavelli handling of neither the Fast & Furious nor Benghazi scandals. Nor on the respective cover ups designed to hide the negligence that resulted in the tragic death of American patriots.
For some of us it has been difficult to see the shining city on the hill become dimmer and almost extinct, as an ever expanding transformational darkness continues to engulf all aspects of our lives. We have observed with dismay how the few valiant voices clamoring for our vanishing freedoms are drowned in a sea of misinformation emanating from our government, Hollywood, academia, and the mainstream media, in their unyielding efforts to dilute the truth and render many our citizens incapable of discerning facts from fiction.
It is said that it is always darkest before dawn and there does appear to be a glimmer of light in the horizon. The disastrous roll out of ObamaCare, together with the undeniable lying of the president on virtually all aspects of the law, has jolted many of our compatriots from their stupor.
The Callus Revolution 2.0: As millions lose their healthcare coverage and are unable to keep their doctors. As they find that the cost of the new plans are much higher than the previous ones. As millions lose their jobs or have their work hours reduced. And as the government’s unsecured, dysfunctional website serves as a relentless testimony of incompetence, waste and deceit; epiphanies will ensue.
This newly awaken individuals recovering from their hope and change hangover, will for the first time begin to question the tall tales they have been told. At some point they will conclude that they have been swindled, and it will be then that they will come to grips with the realization that they placed their Utopic hopes and trust in the hands of pathological liars and demagogues who have been lying to them all along.
When that happens… Halleluiah! New dissidents! New enlightened souls!
Better late than never I suppose.
Cuba, Germany, Russia and the USSR, the list goes on and on and yet seeing man refuses to learn from history and as always follows the siren song, it takes a whap up the side of the head with a two by four to once again make man realize his follies. My gut says that this time, as indicated by the Senate’s overt action as to the filibuster, change might be to late. We are being buried, destroyed from within, just as Kruschev predicted all those years ago and this country is on it’s way to the trash heaps of history, thanks in large part to a co-opted media and a greedy, mind dead electorate that blindly keeps electing people who actually openly promise the exact actions we are seeing now.
Excellent article Paul Acosta.
The only small exception I would like to point out is that those people in Cuba in 1959 did not have the same information available as these 21st century Americans by a long shot although many parallels in their reactions can be observed. There was a large component of peons and a huge segment from the lower urban economic classes making much of the whole situation a rebound from the repressive regime of Batista which treated anyone but cronies badly. The oppressed poor non-cronies were (largely) unhappy and susceptible to constant saturation in a soup of misdirection and discontent. Anything would be better than this!
Modern Americans, on the other hand, have enormous access to seemingly infinite information but still form their opinions from newspaper HEADLINES, the LIMITED statements from talking heads saying
“scandal, scandal, horror, rich criminals, scandal, oppression… Coming up right after the break”
and the words of “that charismatic guy at the party last night” who talked about things far beyond their capacity to validate. Is this the same/better/worse than the people of 1959 Cuba who had NO source of reality? I do not know but I maintain that Obama, et al, are far more savvy about insinuation and innuendo than Castro ever hoped to be. The game is the same but they are possessed of much better psychological weapons today.
@Dink Newcomb: One of the first things that the left does when in power is to rewrite history and Cuban history has been extensively revised.
I agree that there are much better means of information these days, but when you look at our own nation, even though information is all around us, we now seem to have a much more ignorant and misinformed population than ever before. Years of indoctrination in our schools, have finally bared their fruits.
A couple of things that I wanted to add, if it weren’t for the rich, (the very rich) and the Catholic church, Castro would have never triumphed. I should point out that we should not judge those who helped him too harshly, since he is a master of deception. He promised to upon his triumph reinstate the constitution that Batista violated by overthrowing the government of president Prio.
He promised free and open elections, in which he himself would not run, and he proposed to restore the economy with free enterprise solutions, while repeatedly denying he was a communist, calling those who would accuse him of it sympathizers of the Batista regime. Essentially, like every good leftist he would say anything. To those who subscribe to that philosophy, the ends always justify the means.
Where I will respectfully disagree with you is on the matter of Obama’s savviness. Far it would be from me to prop a butcher like Castro, but the facts can be a stubborn thing.
Castro manipulated both superpowers for over fifty years, and was the leader of the radical left wing third world countries for decades. To this date, decrepit as he may be, he is still admired and heralded by every two bit thug with ambitions of being a totalitarian dictator, plus it would not surprise me at all, if our own president were to be among the list of admires.
As to Obama… he leads from behind and is lost without a teleprompter… enough said.
Dink Newcomb
YES, ABSOLUTLY, AND IF WE VENTURE INTO THE NEW TREND OF IDOLATRY,
which is negate te existence of GOD, influence by theses foreigners comming in with other culture and beliefs, the young from it are looking for someone to adore and are ready to listen to the propaganda
from any medias attach by money to the new leader to become molded by their tingle in their legs,
ready to be embrace by theses uninformed and unable to discerned because never have been taught the practice of elders keen foxes ready in a few instants to tell a false dictate from a real leader speech,
to be believe,
hell, the young don;t even ask for advice; they choose from what they hear,
and miss the track miserably, A REAL DAMNATION OF THESES TIMES, BECAUSE THEY ARE THE GUILTY OF ANY FAILURE FROM THEIR CHOSEN ONE, WHICH AFFECT THE LIVES OF ALL THE OTHER CITIZENS,
THAT’S WHERE AMERICA IS AGAINST, AT THIS POINT AND TIME,
BYE
You haven’t.
That hasn’t happened either. At least not the sort of relentless assault that you seem to imagine.
If there’s a relentless assault on our laws, values, and institutions underway, it’s coming from the so-called conservative end of the political spectrum. Some of these people would eliminate three-quarters of a century of social progress in America. They’re philosophically opposed to food stamps, Medicare, Social Security, SSI, Medicaid, public housing assistance, the Environmental Protection Administration, the Department of Education, the IRS, progressive income tax schedules, a woman’s right to choose whether to continue a pregnancy or not, organized labor, separation of church and state—the list goes on and on.
Why do I think that? Because I listen to them.
An obvious question arises: What is it that radical conservatives actually want to conserve?
Paul Acosta
We agree almost completely and you have made me think about other reasons for the fall of Cuba. I am possessed of a great appreciation of history, mostly through self directed reading and I have to admit to gaps in the narrative. I remember when I was 12, seeing numerous times on TV the Cuban revolutionaries executing “undesirables” at the edges of pits a la Nazis/Jews/Baba Yar. You probably will not forget that kind of stuff once you have seen it even from a safe living room 1,500 miles away.
I was not trying to show circa 1959 Cubans as fools, just not privy to all the info available now when the same mistakes are continually made over and over again. Actually, I suspect that those people read the paper voraciously and listened intently to the radio news reports. I am constantly amazed when I read of early 19th century frontiersman and their knowledge of world events — generally a year or two out of date but followed avidly with great comprehension.
As far as Obama, the (sickly grin) “Obama, et al” was truly NOT singling him out for any special skill but referencing the whole pile of miscreants
Greg
BEFORE THOSE LAWS CHOKING A WHOLE POPULATION,
there was freedom and peace, and family took care of their children
and their grandmother and grandfather,better than today, THERE WAS SOME FOR THE POOR,
AND HELP FOR THE DISABLED BY THEIR OWN AND ADDED BY LOVE AND CARING,
THE whole community where sharing for charity,
WHY THE HELL DO YOU INSIST IN TELLING THOSE NEW LAWS WHERE SO IMPORTANT ?
AND WHY TAKE THE FREEDOM OF PEOPLE TO EXCHANGE IT WITH THOSE LAWS?
DON'T YOU SEE THE PEOPLE TODAY ARE MISERABLE FOR BEING PUT IN THE OBLIGATION TO OBEY THOSE LAWS AND MORE OF SPROWTING EVERY WEEK AS ENTITELMENTS OVER EVERYBODY'S HEAD,
THE PEOPLE FEEL THE LOAD AND REJECT IT, CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE GOVERNMENT DID NOT INVENT THE AMERICAN'S WAY OF LIVING, IT WAS ALWAYS THERE, AND THE JUSTICE WAS SO MUCH MORE DEALT WITH BEFORE THE CRIMINALS HAD A CHANCE TO SPREAD THEIR CRIMES,
THAT WAS DONE WITHOUT ENORMOUS COST TO THE SOCIETY EITHER, AS FOR EVERY OTHER PROBLEMS FIX WITH INTELLIGENCE NOT STUPIDITY AND MONEY GRAB INTENT,
TODAY IS CHAOS AND CORRUPTION,
A VOTE IS NO MORE A VOTE FOR MANY PEOPLE,
A VOTE IS MONEY GAIN PERIOD, VOTE FOR AMERICA? NO MORE, FOR THOSE READY TO BECOME TRAITORS,
@Greg: Greg perhaps you should start doing a little reading instead, you might even peruse the constitution itself. There is a small segment there that talks about the Federal government’s enumerated powers, try it, you might find it interesting… and then again you might not.
Wow, so much bullshit in one post. Great job, lol!
@Greg:
They want to preserve and encourage the ability of the individual to make his own decisions as much as possible in a complex society that is way to populous, by far. Incidentally, MOST conservatives are NOT RADICAL>
BS– HUGE BS! I seldom hear ANYONE, OF ANY POLITICAL BENT, wanting all charitable social programs scrapped, just revamped– the IRS and some of the other agencies mentioned are different though since they are anti-social program. Murdering a fetus because some slut wouldn’t use a $1 rubber but preventing the execution of human filth that have killed again and again is so dreadfully irrational that I am at a loss for words to describe the situation. This administration certainly did not invent Gov’t fraud and waste but they have been setting records at attempting to change this country into a third world socialist banana republic by spending as much money as possible– the place to start restructuring the welfare system is getting rid of most of those who have received it more than 6-8 months. My monthly expenses in my retirement are ~equivalent to what many Americans remit for a car payment and I’d not want those of the same insane bent as Obama raiding my pitiful bank accounts so someone who does not work can have a 40″ LCD TV and eat better than me. CHARITY should NOT be served up with humiliation but it certainly should not provide better things for the recipient or come with less effort than what is experienced by the man the “charity” was extorted from.
I feel that to receive the recipient should be required to demonstrate a clear and unequivocal reason for the need– not liking to work or feeling that the rich owner is exploiting you IS NOT A VALID REASON!
There are only three things that GOVERNMENT CHARITY should cover:
1) Basic food to provide adequate nutritional needs. When I was younger, I often hated getting up and going to work and for long periods subsisted on what I could AFFORD TO PAY FOR which frequently was the commercial equivalent of the much vilified Government cheese and beans. Dessert, normally only during the week after the widely separated shopping trips was, at best, a spoon and a jar of cheap peanut butter.
2) Basic housing — relatively warm (I cut firewood for heat), dry and relatively safe. I would not disagree with any money spent to make public housing safer from the abounding human predators generally found in those places.
3) Effective preventive medicine programs, basic care for COMMON ailments/disorders and EMERGENCY health care to patch someone up and get them functioning again after a vicissitudes of life incident. Other than that, NO BREAST IMPLANTS, NO BOTOX, NO LUNG TRANSPLANTS, NO MILLION DOLLAR UNPROVEN MEDICAL TREATMENTS, NO SEX CHANGE OPERATIONS, NO COSMETIC SURGERY, AND SO ON– the reason insurance started in the first place was for cautious people to PRE-PAY for possible catastrophic events– now the left calls it a human right.
@Greg:
How so?
“Social progress?” Wow! You have the Marxist theories down pat, don’t you? Ironic that you chose a time frame of 75 years. That puts us smack dab in the middle of the FDR administration.
All examples of what Americans used to take care of through actual charities, not the government, until [ah ha] 75 years ago when FDR decided to not let a crisis go to waste and enacted laws that made the Federal government responsible for charity via the theft of other people’s money.
And which of those are mentioned in the U.S. Constitution? EPA? There are no better stewards of the land than those that own it. Department of Education? A 10th Amendment issue. IRS? Enacted by a president who thought that the average American was too stupid to know what was best for themselves and got his crony Columbia intellects to come up with a worse mouse trap. Progressive taxation? Pure Marx.
Actions have consequences, Greggie. If you drink to much tonight (an action) you are going to have a hang over tomorrow (the consequence). Rights come with responsibilities, if you want to have sex, that is your right, but you also have the responsibility to deal with the consequence. How do you abort HIV/AIDs?
No longer operating as designed and simply an extension of the DNC.
No where to be found in the Constitution. I suggest you read de Tocqueville.
—the list goes on and on.
It is quite clear that you subscribe to social Marxism. Perhaps you can name the country where it has been a success?
add:
No, Greggie, you don’t listen to them. You hear them. There is a difference. But you are not listening to conservatives who are telling you, with every breath, what has been proven to work in every successful society from time beginning.
Founding principals, before social engineers thought they could tweak the system to benefit them and gain them votes.
You have bought into the whole “social equality” meme that Fidel Castro was so articulate in advocating. The whole “take from the rich to make you rich” scheme that will not work, and never has. Your “social progress” is simply theft of another’s labor, given to those who labor less. There will never be a free society that provides equality of outcome, never. Because just as Rembrandt’s art was the result of what he, and no one else, put into it, your life is the result of what you, and no one else, puts into it. And that is the antithesis of “social progress.” If one person works harder, and gains more, then he is no longer equal to those who work less and gain less.
The human condition is never improved by a government based on redistributed wealth.
@Dink Newcomb:
If history has proven anything, it is that hunger will cause two reactions; a life of crime, which seems apparent although there are those that have been fed their entire lives due to the taxpayer largess and ambition to improve one’s lot in life. If you are hungry, you will either steal, or do anything to be able to purchase food. People should not be made comfortable in their poverty.
Shelter: why do we furnish people, nay, generations of the same family, with public housing? Ever see a photograph of the camps of homeless in the 1930’s, or even homeless living under bridges? What is the one thing that is evident? Innovation. When people need shelter, they will use any item that will help them built that shelter, be it cardboard boxes, old sheet metal, insulation scraps from home builders, etc.
Survival instincts, and a desire to improve one’s lot in life, is a great motivator.
@ilovebeeswarzone: #7
Hey Bees! You have really been coming along in expressing yourself in English in the last few years. I always enjoyed your posts but I am beginning to sense a stronger sense of fearlessness in what you say. Great! Thanks for posting, it pleases an old curmudgeon and makes his life a little richer.
Dink Newcomb
you said something important, it made me see that those protectives laws for the have not,
and the extras stamps, prevent them who can work to think hard solutions so to get out of their situation.
BECAUSE THEY ARE MADE TOO COMFORTABLE AND LOST THE NEED AND THE WILL TO BETTER THEIR SITUATION AND BECOME PROUD AGAIN AND FREE, EQUAL TO THE OTHER WHO WORK FOR A LIVING AND HAVE TO STRUGGLE TO MAKE THEIR BUDGET,
THIS HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM THE NEEDY AND IT RESULTED IN CREATING ANOTHER DIVIDE OF A GROUP FEELING NOT BELONGNING TO THIS AMERICA, NOT HAPPY, NOT KNOWING HOW TO GET OUT OF THAT POISONOUS STITUATION, AND SEPARATING THEMSELVES FROM THE OTHER WILLINGLY BECAUSE OF THE SHAME THEY FEEL.
THAT IS NOT HELPING THEM, IT INSTEAD BURYING THEM ALIVE,
Dink Newcomb
thank you for acknowledging my hard work, every time I type a paragraphe,
I appreciate your comments which give me ideas TO REPLY,on the subject you decide to take on,
ALSO
@retire05: Ditto,well said.
Paul Acosta, thank you for a well written article. I remember these years well; although it would be several years before I was to begin my formal education, I was an avid reader. I often received the New York Times after it was read by several people and it was usually two or three weeks old. I followed the progress of Fidel with fascination; although, my father warned me of the possibility of him not being the man he was pretending to be. My favorite cartoon character at the time or for all time since I don’t peruse cartoons, was Pogo the possum. Pogo declared Fidel to be a Communist, early in the revolution and he was unceremoniously dropped from the NYT, imagine that.
I though there had been a great injustice committed, but my dad, wise to the world, explained that the NYT was a leftist rag and it was too early for Fidel to be exposed as a Communist; oh my, how details and facts can distort a young lad’s allusions. I am more cautious, now that I have snow on the roof year round, but Castro lives under no pretenses, he is an admitted Communist and one of the wealthiest men in the world and the NYT is still a Leftist Rag.
Thanks again for the article; hopefully, we will see more in the future.
Oh, by the way, I wrote at least one article, for every Obama transgression you mentioned, but sometimes, you feel like you are screaming at a typhoon.
@retire05, #11:
Feel free to send back your Social Security checks and tear up your Medicare card, if you honestly think they have no place in people’s lives. Or maybe you think only other people are undeserving.
One-fifth of the nation’s children are dealing with poverty. Anyone who believes their lot would be improved by getting rid of the food stamp program or of unemployment extensions for their parents when the economy takes a severe downturn had better have some option besides suggesting that they rely on charity in mind. Republicans didn’t. That didn’t stop them from going after food stamps and unemployment extensions.
@retire05: #12
To quote the bard, “ay, there’s the rub”.
I do not ever remember stealing food but I would find it very difficult to punish a man who stole (non-violently) only food for a meal. The reality of reality based food theft was illustrated to me when in the early 80s I worked for the US Corps of Engineers doing hydrographic Surveys in Charleston, SC out of the motor pool on N Meeting Street– not the best part of town. A black co-worker who was vociferous in his constant taking whites to task for EVERYTHING that was wrong with his life went out to lunch at the KFC up by the Cool Blow section and came back in a hugely untypical introspective mood. The other guy Zeke, also black, who went with him told how Frank had just collided with reality when they got out of the car and found an old black man sitting on the curb crying because a group of black teenagers assaulted him and took his small lunch on which he had spent all his money. Zeke took the old man inside and bought him a new meal while Frank was paralyzed with denial. Frank never talked about the incident.
Most thieves certainly, are not Jean Valjean who was imprisoned for stealing bread– thievery is too lucrative and it seldom stops at necessity. Most of the current liberal discontent about the “starving poor” saw its birth during the harsh long ago economic reality of those who missed the boat during the early Industrial Revolution. This was strengthened by the popularity of literature detailing experiences of despair like Hugo’s Jean Valjean in Les Miserables and Dickens’ strong works (The Adventures of Oliver Twist, Hard Tomes and others) and it is this environment that liberals envision when they think of life in the inner city. I have also watched entitlement’s twin, the American “Civil Rights Movement”, sliding into the same foolish parody of the humanity and justice it once stood for and fully expect it to continue its decline. Sure, there are lots of inequities the poor face and WE SHOULD ALL be alert for them but wildly throwing money in their general direction does not solve ANY of the problems, it only causes more.
Every year, there are thousands of people who pull themselves out of those modern hells using years of working TOWARD pride and independence. They deserve what dignity and respect they have earned and I hope I show it.
maybe was 16 teen, a new job, dinner time for all,
i went outside ate my bag of chips, thinking it was a bbq chicken,
it was a beautifull day to be out, and the dinner time ended, i went back inside, someone ask me if i had a good dinner, i said oh yes very good thank you,
after the day of work i left for home on foot a good long walk,
enjoying the beautiful day again,
@Greg: All the programs you mentioned have failed!! The corruption and excessive cost of Medicare, Social Security is only a word and NOT reality (it may NOT be around for your children), EPA has done more harm than good, Department of Education has been ruined by unionization, a women’s right to choose murder is 100% fatal to the most innocent, oppressive taxation to pay for these programs has reduced government income, and on and on. Everything you have listed is a failure!! Prove me wrong with statistics and proof!! Liberal socialism has destroyed the free market economy!! No wonder Kennedy was murdered, he proposed a tax cut to stimulate the economy!!
@Greg:
If the gurus at Social Security want to send back to me the money I paid into the system, along with a small percentage of interest for their being able to use my money all those years, along with a refund for the money I paid into Medicare, and allow me to have the private insurance of my choice, I’ll take it. But to give it to the government because people like you want to redistribute that money you deem more worthy of it than me, no way.
I was not allowed to determine how much I paid into those programs, why is the government allowed to tell me how much of it I can have back?
Glad you brought that up, Greggie. How many BILLIONS of $$ have we spent on the “social progress” plan of the war on poverty since LBJ? Has that wonderful “war” reduced the percentage of children living in poverty? And what about the argument that your side made that women should be able to abort children they could not afford to raise? If abortion is legal for any reason, why are children still being born into poverty? And why, if I am responsible for raising my children, am I also responsible for raising someone else’s? Frankly, I think having a child when you can’t afford to raise that child is the purest form of child abuse and you should not be allowed to keep that child.
So tell us; after 50 years of wealth redistribution, why are there still children living in poverty? Because government mandated charity doesn’t work.
In a day when birth control is readily available, and even free from some agencies, there is no excuse for any child to be born in poverty. What would improve the lot of those children would be to have two, not one, but two, responsible parents who were ambitious enough to work to support those children. Instead, a generation of leeches beget another generation of leeches, and another and another.
While I disagree with any public assistance that is funded by the theft of another’s earnings, welfare should always be a hand up, not a hand out. Yet, as I said before, we have generational welfare.
So tell us, Greggie; what social progressive policy has ever worked to actually eliminate the problem it claimed it would eliminate?
@Greg: Greg, Social Security is the only thing that is indeed an entitlement, you are entitle to it because it was taken out of your paychecks your entire life. However, if I could go all the way back to my first paycheck, and would have then given the option to either put that money into an IRA or 401K account, that money today would be five times more that what it is, and far more secured than in the hand of the blithering incompetent and corrupt politicians that are in control of it today. As to Medicare, if we had free market solutions we would be able to afford healthcare, once again without the added cost and incompetence of the political class.
Frankly I cannot understand the psych of someone who prefers to put his future in the hands of others, instead of his own. Especially when those others have a perfect track record, when it comes to screwing up everything they have ever touch.
@Paul Acosta: #3
AND
@Skookum: #17
—
This is not any sort of difference of opinion but, since you both state some memory of these events, a question. I remember “hearing” somewhere (best guess is early 60s in the paper when I was becoming aware of the world beyond sensational incidents) that early on, Castro tried to shop around for support for his revolution but was rebuffed by the US so he decided to become a Marxist. This has nagged at me for years and does not fit the accepted history. I was wondering if either of you have any comments on this because I never seem to see any mention of it. I concede the absurd iconoclastic stories did not begin with the internet and wonder if it really happened.
@Common Sense: Murdered by a communist.
@Greg: The poverty level in the US has risen thanks to the Democrat policies, that’s a fact Greggy!! As far as Social Security Checks and Medicare cards, you can always send more into the government if you think they work so well, no ones stopping you!! Just because these programs have been implemented does not mean they work or are the best solution. Once again, Medicare and Medicaid are proven to be fraught with fraud and abuse!!
@Dink Newcomb:I have heard that said by many Castro apologists, but that is simply not true. I believe that the KGB’s head of the Latin American region in 1955 was a Russian named Nikolai Leonov. He was stationed in Mexico when he met with Raul Castro and Che Guevara.
I don’t exactly recall if it was Nikolai or another one of his superiors who upon meeting Fidel wrote back to Moscow with “a thrill up his leg” letting them know that they had met a Cuban revolutionary that reminded them of a young Stalin. I doubt that he knew then how accurate his assessment was.
So to say that Castro was interested in making nice with the US is propaganda. I will tell this though, and this is solely my opinion, I believe that Raul and Che were communist, but Fidel was only interested in Fidel. He would have gone to bed with whomever could guaranteed him power. My father went to law school with Fidel and at the time he was obsessed with Mussolini. He would rehearse his speeches in front of a mirror, mimicking Mussolini’s mannerism. If you ever have the opportunity to see either one of these individuals on some old history channel documentary, you will remember what I have just said.
To surmise, Castro is as much a communist as he could have been a Fascist, as he could have been a Nazi; Evil is not concerned with minutia like that.
@Dink Newcomb: I will admit, I was suckered by the main stream press; I followed Fidel with the dreams of revolution and glory being portrayed. I was a country boy with no experience, naive is the correct word, perfect material for the propaganda efforts of National and International Socialism.
I was far removed fro the actual events, thank God; otherwise, I was naive enough to have packed a rifle for such a “valiant” revolutionary. This was or is the power of propaganda, for the immature and unworldly and the stupid. They stand in line to be designated as Useful Idiots; we have seemingly lucid and literate people here, who would grovel in front of Fidel or Barrack to be designated and recognized as Useful Idiots of the revolution.
When I see someone wearing a Che T-shirt, i make a point to walk up and ask if they are aware that they are celebrating a homicidal maniac and a psychopathic murderer, some kids are speechless and others ask me to explain. Like me at their age, some of these kids are just naive; I tell them to look up the executions and the life of their icon “Che.” Hopefully, I have made a slight difference, but our propaganda media, now state-directed, is considerably more powerful than one gray haired old man speaking to kids in coffee shops.
We must remember, one of the Left’s heroes is one of the richest men in the world, who rules one of the poorest countries in the world. I think the Left’s Useful Idiots like to picture themselves sucking off the hind teat of a sour hog, it’s not a great position, but it still elevates you over the rest of the population who are not serious followers.
Paul Acosta, terrific article.
It reminded me of what I learned in a very subtle way simply by living near an enclave of Cubans in the 1960’s in Huntington Park, CA.
They were very kind to Americans.
Very into owning their own businesses as well.
Once in a while one would go back to Cuba and return with amazing stories.
How appreciative their friends back home were for what we considered common items:
combs, brushes, soaps, lotions, cloth, diaper material, toothbrushes.
Of course the Cuban police took their cut off the top first.
The not-so-good stories were about who had disappeared between their last visit and the next one.
Seemed to happen a lot.
One of the writers they introduced me to was Humberto Fontova.
This is a link to his website.
http://www.hfontova.com/
As you can see he is published by
Town Hall
The Americano
Big Hollywood
Big Journalism
American Thinker
Human Events Online
World Net Daily
FrontPage Mag
Newsmax
Big Peace
Louisiana Sportsman.
Obama seems to have sided with the Castro apologists.
He rewards some of them with partying at the White House after visiting and saying positive things about Cuba.
For those of you who are reading this and need a lesson in primary Wealth Redistribution, may I suggest Wealth Redistribution for Cowboys. This idea of wealth redistribution is great for slackers and naer do wells, but it is Hell on wheels for those of us doing the work.
@Paul Acosta, #23:
Do you truly believe that Wall Street is able to provide the same degree of long-term financial security that Social Security has provided for 75 years?
Accepting that requires a person to believe that a gambling casino can be set up in which everyone who plays ultimately wins. I would have thought that the 2008-2009 stock market crash would have taught people something. Anyone who thinks that this isn’t going to happen again surely isn’t paying attention.
How can anyone be aware of the chicanery that routinely goes on in the financial sector, but still conclude that it’s Social Security that somehow represents the real shakedown system?
Thanks for the replies and your time fellas. I have been in and out of this site for several years but I don’t participate enough to know just who the grey beards are that can answer stuff like that.
@Paul Acosta:
As I recall, in “the article”, there was some mention of Fidel being very impressed with the US– even hoping to play professional baseball here. I will put the thought in the “ignore until further evidence magically appears” pile for now. Every time you type Paul, I am shown more gaping holes in my knowledge of the history of Cuba and Fidel. In fact, I might know almost as much about Henri Christophe, the black Hatian president/king from the early 19th century.
We “freed” Cuba from the Spanish and then set them up with that freedom lifeboat which we quickly set adrift– we just didn’t follow through like all the other democracy
farmsasylums we have created around the world. Japan and Germany are just about the only successes.@Skookum:
In October, on a Cuban American website I read about their yearly observance of the death of Che Guevara. As far as idiot t-shirts, the other most revolting subject to display on your chest has to be Charles Manson– a man, a murderer, a movement!!
@Greg: The answer to your question is YES, even with the crash… But more importantly I would not trust Wall Street any more than I would any one else. The person that I would trust most with decisions about my hard earned money and my retirement plans is “Me”. A concept that you seem to be unable to grasp.
Greg, a person who throws their lot in with simply Social Security has an average expected benefit of a meager $1,229, and that’s including the recent increase.
That works out to $14,748 a year, or a bit more than $7.37 an hour for a typical 2,000-hour-a-year job.
That’s barely above the $7.25 hourly minimum wage.
After health coverage they are left with only $925 per month to spend on — well, everything that isn’t health insurance.
You know, food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and the other costs of living.
We are family that invested only a couple hundred in lean years, a couple thousand in fat years.
So we get far more than that in retirement.
We were newly married when the 1969-1070 recession hit.
The 1973 oil crisis and stock market crash was a bit scary, too.
Our first ”double-dip” recession was in 1980-1982.
We were quite worried when the tech bubble burst and then the 9-11-2001 attacks hurt the stock market all through 2001.
Then also when the 2008-9 slowdown occurred.
But, through it all our investments either grew or barely shrunk.
And since retirement our investment ”nest egg” has grown despite all our spending.
The market is resilient and keeps coming back.
Social Security alone would have left us paupers.
THE NEW IPAD WHICH REID help to get in with the nucleor law,
will be given a great power on the obamacare,to do what ever, they could cut care at will,just told at
FOX NOW, SHE SAID OBAMA COULD APPOINT SOME RADICALS TO MAKE DECISIONS ON REDUCING COST,
SOME VERY GOOD HOSPITALS WON’T BE IN THE OBAMACARE,
IT’S JUST THE BEGINING,
Common Sense
THAT’S WHY THE NUCLEOR LAW IS VOTED IN, THEY DISPOSESS THE FREE MARKET BUSINESS AND THAT WAS THEIR MAIN AGENDA TO TAKE POWER,
WE SEE HOW THEY ALWAYS USE OTHER TO COVER THEIR REAL INTENT, THEY DID IT AGAIN,
Paul Acosta,
Thank you for youre very intersting POST,
which capture our big interest ALSO,
best to you,
@Greg:
What many lose sight of is the way SS was originally done. First of all the average recipient only lived about 4 months after beginning to receive benefits. FDR did not propose to start people getting checks at age 45. He knew the average lifespan of people in the US at the time. So he set it to near death. That’s how he figured the program could be sustained. Today people collect for 20 years or more. Something that was never intended to happen. Then originally it was 3% taken out of everyone’s paycheck. Something that most didn’t like was a 3% cut in pay. FDR promised it would never go higher. It did.
So if today we were going to start an SS program, imagine for a moment we don’t have one, and we modeled it after the one FDR gave us. No one would be getting any checks until about age 75.
That’s why today’s SS is a ponzi scheme. It has not kept up with the added life expectancy of people. It needs reform badly or today’s children get nothing but a big fat bill. This is one of the problems with government programs is politicians don’t handle maintenance very well.
I don’t see the Chicago savior proposing anything to solve the problem either. He appears much better at creating problems than solving them.
@Mully:
When FDR shoved Social Security through by threatening to pack the Supreme Court, the average life expectancies were :
white woman – 60
white man -58
black man- less than 50
FDR was fully aware of these stats and it was never intended for the majority of people to collect what they had paid in because they would be dead before then. Just another pie-in-the-sky program that was simply a campaign issue to prop up FDRs failing popularity in a time where the Depression continued, and continued, and continued. It was a “Hey, vote for me again. I’m gonna take care of you when you’re old.”
Yep. That medical industry, that Obama wants to destroy, has facilitated our ability to live longer. Ooooops.
@retire05:
If you do the research, you will find that with the vast majority of these children in poverty, the tendency has been that they have lived in Democrat controlled urbanity. Under Obama that is changing as more of the middle class is being forced downward into the lower class, while more of the lower class are being more dependent on entitlement the programs. Some are doing better than they did working for a living, which is destroying the work ethic of the lower class. Nor can you blame them for taking advantage of the system. Unfortunately, because of all this, the entitlement system is going bankrupt as there is less middle class, and downward spiral of wages means less revenue to support the Statist scheme.
Meanwhile, the wealthiest have grown even wealthier under Obama’s regime (just look at Washington DC.,). Yet even if you take 100% of what they make, it is not possible to make the entitlement system solvent.
The only way out, is to redesign those entitlement programs it is desirable to keep, end the duplicitous and useless programs, remove fraud and waste in the programs and government as a whole. Most important is to reduce unemployment and bring a renaissance period of the American Dream, where most Americans profited by a robust economy, and only those who really needed anti-poverty program can be supported by a small percentage of the GDP. Also, it is necessary to stop the over-regulation by big government of business, charities and the public. We should also reinstate charitable deductions for those taxpayers who do not itemize, so as to improve the ability of such organizations to deliver aid to poverty stricken Americans.
There was a county or city in the southwest somewhere (Texas/Arizona or New Mexico) that found a loophole in the SSA system back in the 50’s or 60’s and were able to opt out and start their own retirement system free of social security. Supposedly, the retirement benefits they will receive are 3 times more than social security. Anyone ever hear of that? Nice deal but that loophole was closed soon after the gov found out about it…..
Ditto
very good thoughts and well possible,
I might add to it, to make it a number 1 priority over the world charity organisation,
and give a total effort to this country as long as we see a real betterness on all stages,
than we will have in hand the wealthy, who are keen on reconizing effort worth while,
and AMERICA WILL REBOUNCE WHILE IN THE MEAN TIME WE HAVE GOT RID OF THE SOCIALIST
LEADING THIS COUNTRY,
and the COAL WILL BE PROCESS FOR THE NEED IT CAN BE USE, AND THE CANADIAN KEYSTONE WILL TRAVEL UNDERGROUND TO GET TO OUR CAR AND OUR STOVES, FOR ALL TO FIND A GOOD JOB IN THE MULTIPLE OPEN OPORTUNITY FROM IT AND AMERICA’S DEPRESSION WILL BE REPLACE BY NEW HOPES FOR GETTING SUCCESSFUL AND BY CREATING FREE FROM ENTITELMENT AND HARRASSING FROM THE OBAMA MINIONS RUNNING ALL OVER TO FIND LAW BREAKER, BUT REPLACE BY YOUNG
WELL EDUCATED AND WELL MANNERED GOING ALL AROUND THIS AMERICA TO ENJOY AND RECLAIME THE LOVE OF THEIR FUTURE EXPECTATIONS WHICH WILL NO MORE HAVE ANY LIMITS
under an intelligent government from the PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE,
a GOVERNMENT AIMING AT THE BEST FOR THIS AMERICA TO REMAKE IT AS STRONG AS SHE WAS BEFORE, as loved as she was before, as kind as she was before, as generous as she could be before,
but now she need to take care of herself,
Hc
THEY HAD THE RIGHT RECIPE, TO MAKE IT ALL THE WAY IN A PLEASANT LIFE,
TOO BAD THEY WHERE STOP, THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN COPIED,
IT SHOW HOW THE GOVERNMENT CAN RUIN A GOOD THING WHICH THE CIVILIANS CAN START
AND BE SUCCESSFUL AT IT BETTER THAN THE LEADERS, AS WE SEE NOW,
retire05
THE INSURANCE AND MEDICAL INDUSTRY AS YOU MENTIONED, WHERE MOST EFFICIENT TO MAKE LIFE LONGER, FOR THE PEOPLE,
AND THE PEOPLE WHERE LESS STRESS BY GOVERNMENT,
@Hc:
Yes. There were (I believe) three counties in Texas that opted out prior to the [Democrat held] Congress making that illegal for counties to do. Galveston County, Texas has the best plan and has been written about numerous times.
@This one: thanks for the savvy input toehead
One of the greatest economies in the W.Hemisphere to nothing.
Don’t cry for Argentina.
Don’t cry for Cuba.
Pray and cry for us – America.
obamarhhea@#46
@bamarhhea: Thanks for the Laugh (LOL)- I needed that!
Bees: This Fraudulent Administration we have right at this very minute is total consistent stress…
probably why I rant so much…well, at least I get it off my chest and nobody here yells at
me…thanks wonderful FA friends! And you too Bees…!
FAITH7
YES WE FEEL THE PEOPLE’S BEING PRESSURED BY THIS REGIME,
and as if they don”t have enough of it in this bad down economy, they struggle to make their lives normal,
but they always are reminded of a new bug coming to take room in their lives which they have to find a way to sqawsh it while no one “s looking, and the next day a knock at the door accusing them to have squawsh their bug, YOU FEEL LIKE SAYING, F……Y.S…LFT WITH IT, they want to have you pay for it they decide the price of that bug so high that you must get in debt to repay for it,
IT WOULD MAKE YOU LAUGH IN OTHER TIME BUT LAUGHTER IS NOT IN USE ANYMORE,
YOU ARE A FAVORITE OF ALL OF US, AND WELL READ ALSO,
BYE