According to the official numbers provided by the Cuban regime, the country's budget deficit came in much lower for the first half of 2010 than expected.

Just whose butthole these economic figures were pulled out of, however,  has not yet been confirmed.

After miraculously surviving his 24th hunger strike, Guillermo Fariñas has been released from the hospital and is back at home.

"The message was loud and clear and they heard it in Havana: Simcoe teenager Cody LeCompte is to be promptly released from his tropical detainment or the Canada/Cuba travel relationship that sees more than 600,000 Canadians visit the communist island each year will be put in jeopardy.

Canadians are its biggest tourism base. And Cuba needs that cash".

But wait?......the MSM/Jeff Flake/ Cuba-Expert mantra has it that tourism to Cuba "promotes freedom" and "erodes repression"?

Well, the threat of it ending certainly promoted Cody LeCompte's freedom. But how 'bout the Cuban peoples' ? Hunh, Canada? Seeing as you feed Castro with such a large carrot, and seeing the effectiveness of threatening to wield your stick...

We well recall how you CHAMPIONED the embargo of South Africa.

“We emphasize the importance of maintaining sanctions. Sanctions were imposed to help us end the apartheid system. It is only logical that we must continue to apply this form of pressure against the South African government.” That’s Nelson Mandela addressing (and thanking) the Canadian Parliament in June 1990 for imposing, and championing in every international forum, economic sanctions against South Africa.

“Sanctions which punish Cuba are anathema to the international order to which we aspire!” That’s Nelson Mandela in Sept ‘98 while decorating Fidel Castro with “The Order of Good Hope,” South Africa’s highest civilian award.

More intransigence here.

Unreal

7/27/10

"there's just no data to suggest this is an environmental disaster. We're not seeing catastrophic impacts. There's a lot of hype, but no evidence to justify it." former LSU prof and Marine scientist Ivor Van Heerden.

The obnoxious anti-environmentalist Rush Limbaugh has been a rare voice arguing that the spill — he calls it "the leak" — is anything less than an ecological calamity, scoffing at the avalanche of end-is-nigh eco-hype.

Well, Rush has a point.

Entire environmental intransigence here and fromTime magazine no less!

Even ABC can't dodge it!

Other enviro-intransigents--based on what they saw with their own eyes while spending an average two days a week along the La. Coast--had been hinting at this for months.

This Louisiana Enviro-hoax threatened to reach the dimensions of the Castro-Che "Guerrilla-War" hoax...Nah, actually NO farce can possibly top that ONE!

Unreal

At what point will the world realize that talking about doing something is actually not doing anything?

Cuba weighs expanding small private businesses

It makes for eye-catching headlines, though.

Cody LeCompte, the Canadian teen being held in Cuba by the dictatorship over an auto accident will be released according to news reports.

I really am happy for him and his family and I can only hope that they learned a lesson from all of this: You can't party with the devil in hell and then get upset when he doesn't let you out.

Stephen Kinzer from the UK's Guardian has come to the conclusion that fidel castro will never tell the truth about his life.

Whatever [c]astro's goal now, it is certainly not confronting difficult and complex truths or reflecting deeply on the course of his life. [c]astro's career has been about myth-making; there is no reason to believe his memoir will be any different.

Presumably [c]astro will describe his revolutionary war in the 1950s as intense and full of heroics, as no doubt it was. Some historians, however, marvel at how little fighting [c]astro's men actually had to do and how easily the old dictatorship collapsed. Nor are we likely to find new insights into [c]astro's relationship with his brother, raúl; with their highly popular comrade Camilo Cienfuegos, who died in a plane crash that [c]astro described as an accident but that some Cubans suspect was a political assassination; or with Che Guevara, who by many accounts broke with him over his decision to lead Cuba into the Soviet bloc.

[c]astro cannot be reasonably expected to renounce his beliefs or implicate himself in killings or atrocities. Nonetheless it would be fascinating to learn whether he still believes it was necessary to execute hundreds of his countrymen without trial in the first weeks after his victory in 1959; whether he wishes the Soviet Union had taken his advice and launched a nuclear first strike against the United States; and whether he regrets the repression and mass imprisonment of gay people, other "lifestyle dissidents", and intellectuals who supported his cause but broke with him after his first years in power.

Was [c]astro sincere when, during his guerrilla war, he swore that he was not a Communist? If so, when did he change, and why? Looking back, does he believe he might have chosen a better course?

Although [c]astro is built on a larger-than-life scale, he has never been known as reflective or self-aware. His ideology has evidently not changed in half a century. For much of that time he was widely said to hold more direct personal control over his people than any leader in the world. How did that feel? Was it necessary? Don't buy [c]astro's memoir expecting insightful reflection on questions like these.

Congratulations, Mr. Kinzer, for figuring out the obvious.

Do not let his brutalized appearance fool you, within the battered and tortured body of Ariel Sigler Amaya exists the soul of a warrior. The heart beating within his emaciated body is the heart of a lion.

Photos from the AP:

This is what the Castro regime is scared of--not what is on the outside, but what is in the inside of men like Ariel Sigler Amaya.

...for hyper-inflation a la Weimar!

Bernanke acknowledged that the US economy faces an "unusually uncertain time," but if necessary, he hinted the central bank would resort to "Quantitative Easing," (QE), or printing vast quantities of US dollars, in order to prevent a deflationary spiral. With the US federal funds rate pegged near zero percent, Bernanke was asked by Senator Jim Bunning if the Fed is "out of bullets," Bernanke responded, "I don’t think so. We are prepared to take further policy actions as needed to foster a return to full utilization of our nation’s productive potential and price stability."

One of my favorite television series is the documentary The World at War. A twenty six part exploration of The Second World War, it always opened with a teaser about the episode that was about to be viewed, followed by opening credits (with a great theme by the British composer Carl Davis), throughout which haunted faces of war victims appear surrounded by flames. It is at the end of the credits that a young man or woman appears and is consumed by the flames to a fadeout. These images, but especially the last one in my view, act as a metaphor for the entire series, where the civilians, caught up in great destructive events, are the tragic victims.

Yesterday, upon seeing Ariel Sigler Amaya in the flesh, I couldn't help but think of the image of that haunted face. Sigler Amaya's countenance and body show the years of brutality he has endured in castro's jails, fighting his war against castro's tyranny. As Alberto wrote yesterday, he looked like he had walked out of a concentration camp. His sadness and pain were fully visible. His face, his legs, his entire broken body, are metaphors for the Cuba that has been created in the image and likeness of the Beast and his minions. A Cuba that has endured over a half century of evil and oppression.

But that is where the comparison ends. The other thing I saw in Sigler Amaya's face and heard in his words was defiance. Defiance against the brutal communists who stop at nothing to subjugate, intimidate, brutalize, and break the citizens of Cuba. Defiance against world opinion that paints a picture of castro's Cuba that is 180 degrees from the truth. I saw Ariel Sigler Amaya, a boxer in Cuba but now a paraplegic, sitting in his wheelchair, thanking America for allowing him to come to here to be healed, and then having someone help him put on a pair of boxing gloves with which he wanted to show the world that he is ready to continue his fight for the eventual liberty of Cuba, at whatever cost. He is broken, but not defeated; he is terribly hurt, but not dead. And he has already paid dearly.

We exiles may be guardians of our parent's and grandparent's traditions and memories, and the caretakers of the real history of our island, but Ariel Sigler Amaya is the real Cuba personified. Ariel Sigler Amaya is a mambí.

An account has been set up to receive contributions to help pay for the costs associated in helping Ariel Sigler Amaya regain his health and continue his courageous fight against the Castro dictatorship.

Baracutey Cubano has the information:

ARIEL SIGLER

HUMANITARIAN FUND

ACCT # 0000148280827

Bank: BB & T

Cualquier duda llamar a Miguel Sigler Amaya al siguiente teléfono

(786) 768 4428

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Algunas fotos de Ariel Sigler Amaya

Ariel, Biscet y Guido, cuando Biscet fue al pueblo de Pedro Betancourt a aprender de la práctica de la desobediencia civil en la lucha pacífica llevada a cabo por el Movimiento Independiente Opción Alternativa presidido por Ariel Sigler Amaya

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Manifestación del Movimiento Independiente Opción Alternativa en el parque del pueblo Pedro Betancourt en la provincia de Matanzas; al centro Ariel Sigler Amaya sosteniendo un extremo de la bandera. En el letrero o pancarta que sostiene Guido Sigler Amaya se lee: Para las Ideas Palacios No Cárceles.

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Ariel y Guido Sigler Amaya con las huellas de una actividad demostrativa de desobediencia civil pacífica que llevaron a cabo en ciudad de La Habana a petición del Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet. La foto es en el pueblo de Pedro Betancourt.

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Ariel Sigler Amaya en el extremo derecho; detrás de Gloria Amaya Juan Francisco Sigler Amaya y al lado de Gloria, Josefa López Peña, la cual ya era opositora antes de ser Dama de Blanco y detrás de Josefa, su esposo Miguel Sigler Amaya.

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Los cuatro corajudos luchadores Sigler Amaya: Guido, Juan Francisco, Miguel y Ariel

It was an emotional and inspirational moment at Miami International Airport this afternoon when Cuban dissident, patriot, and hero Ariel Sigler Amaya was wheeled into a special area prepared for his arrival at Terminal J.

George and I arrived at Terminal J about an hour before Sigler Amaya made his entrance with his family and friends by his side. On the way into the airport the news vans were already set up with their satellite dishes extended and the news helicopters hovered above. It seemed like every television station and radio station in Miami was set up inside the small terminal to record his arrival, as well as international news crews. I had expected that a good number of people were going to show up to welcome him to the land of freedom, but what started as a small group when we first arrived swelled into a crowd well over a hundred people by the time Ariel Sigler Amaya appeared.

I thought that the multitude of pictures that we have all seen showing the utter brutality inflicted on this man by the Cuban dictatorship would have prepared me, but seeing his emaciated and beaten body in person affected me in ways I could never put into words. He literally looked like he had just come out of a Nazi concentration camp and when he showed his legs to the crowd and cameras, everyone let out a gasp to see up close the diabolical work of the Castro regime.

However, with all the physical damage the tyranny in Havana managed to inflict on this man during his seven years in prison, they were not able to lay one finger on his spirit. Within his frail and ravaged body lies the spirit of a warrior.  The first thing he did when he addressed the crowd was to raise up both his skeletal arms and let out a powerful and awe inspiring "Abajo la dictadura de los Castro!" "Down with the Castro dictatorship!"

His voice boomed across the terminal and the crowd responded in kind. It was such an incredible thing to see such a powerful and strong spirit trapped inside a body that has been abused and beaten countless times by Castro's thugs. Each beating took its toll on Ariel Sigler Amaya's body, and they were so relentless that the once healthy and strong boxer is now a paraplegic. But none of those beatings could touch his spirit and his will to continue fighting for freedom in Cuba.

Sigler Amaya went on to tell the story of how he and his family were beaten by state security when they publicly protested the regime's refusal to grant him an exit permit to come here to Miami to receive much needed medical attention. He described how they beat him while he was trapped in his wheelchair, how they pushed and punched his wife and family members, and how they threw him into a van too small for his wheelchair and he was driven off with his head sticking out of its door. He spoke of his brother Guido, who is still rotting in a prison in Cuba. In all, he spoke for about 15 minutes and not once did his voice waiver or the intensity in his eyes become any less powerful. But at the end, when he was wheeled to an awaiting ambulance, he fainted. Alas, Ariel Sigler Amaya's devastated body can no longer keep up with his still undaunted spirit.

After it was all over, Juan Amador and I were discussing what an incredible display of courage and spirit we had just witnessed and he mentioned that it was people like Ariel Sigler Amaya that the regime cannot tolerate. It is people like him whose spirit and will to fight cannot be touched by their violent attacks that receive the most vicious beatings, the most horrific tortures, and eventually are murdered. The regime cannot afford to have Ariel Sigler Amayas on the island because they are not afraid and are not deterred by the regime's violent repression.

I managed to video the entire press conference and as soon as I am able to upload the video later tonight, I will post it on Babalú. Everyone needs to see a real Cuban patriot and warrior.

Translation below the fold. Continue reading Para Ariel Sigler Amaya

As their diabolical plan to help Cuba's dictatorship get rid of their "problems" continues to come apart at the seams, the Spanish government is getting more and more desperate to take control of the situation. Yesterday I posted about their embracing of Castroite propaganda techniques, and today I bring to you another development that illustrates once again how low the Spanish government is willing to go in order to secure their financial investments.

On Sunday, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart was in Spain to meet with the forcibly exiled Cuban prisoners of conscience and their families. Fearing another embarrassing barrage of negative press, Spain's foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, sent Diaz-Balart a message through the U.S. State Department.

Here is Rep. Diaz-Balart's account of that message via Emilio Ichikawa's blog:

The night before my planned meeting with the ex-political prisoners in Madrid, Minister Moratinos sent me a message through the State Department of the U.S. His message said that the Spanish government was worried over my physical safety if the meeting with the ex-political prisoners were made public--in other words, if the press was present. (If anyone is interested in the "message" Moratinos sent me, which he obviously now denies sending, my office in Washington will gladly provide it to you.)

Of course we went ahead and with pleasure had the press attend the meeting with the ex-political prisoners I had invited. But the actions on the part of Moratinos constitutes a grotesque intent to threaten in order to hinder the presence of the press at the meeting with the ex-political prisoners. His actions demonstrate his clear attempt to censor in a dictatorial fashion. As my uncle Waldo Diaz-Balart once told me, "these people, if they could, would act just like Fidel; it's just that they can't." What a contrast to the human quality, the immense spirituality and patriotism of the Cuban political prisoners.

So your country's economy is in shambles due to your ineptness, idiotic policies, and complete disregard for reality.

What do you do?

Well, the only sensible thing: You join forces with another country whose economy is in shambles due to their ineptness, idiotic policies, and complete disregard for reality.

Via Capitol Hill Cubans:

Misery Loves Company

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

At yesterday's Cuba-Venezuela Economic Summit, which was held at the apartheid beach resort of Cayo Santa Maria, Cuban dictator Raul Castro announced:

"We are moving towards the economic union between Cuba and Venezuela."

Castro further elaborated, "it is this new type of relationship that will allow a better management of joint projects and is at the same time, an important step towards the goal of achieving real economic complementarities, based on the optimal use of the infrastructure, knowledge and existing resources in both countries and, above all, the political will of our peoples."

Huh?

Meanwhile, Venezuela is facing an annual inflation rate of over 31%; gripping power and food shortages (please note there's no "embargo" towards Venezuela); first quarter GDP fell by 5.8%; and investment fell by 27.9% amidst arbitrary nationalizations.

Sounds like a solid economic partnership.

Media Research Center's "Times Watch" took notice how the New York Times, the newspaper of record, conveniently left out the fact that the Khmer Rouge and the Castro regime are communist dictatorships.

Times Again Leaves Out Communism in Coverage of Khmer Rouge Atrocities

By: Clay Waters

July 27, 2010

Seth Mydans' dispatches from Cambodia on Monday (“A Verdict Is Due in the First Trial of a Major Khmer Rouge Figure”) and Tuesday (“Prison Term for Khmer Rouge Jailer Leaves many Dissatisfied") relayed the surprisingly lenient verdict in Cambodia of the Khmer Rouge jailer and killer known as “Duch.” They were unsparing and graphic, but strangely incomplete.

The Communist Khmer Rouge killed almost two million of a population of just seven million 1975-1979, victims of forced labor, torture, and execution in the killing fields. Yet neither article explained or even mentioned the radical Communist ideology behind that totalitarian regime, which imposed radical agrarian Communism on the populace and deported city-dwellers to the countryside (the Khmer Rouge was also known as the Khmer Communist Party).

Mydans' previous coverage was faulted for the same omission.

On Tuesday, Mydans shared the International page with Victoria Burnett reporting from Cuba on“Revolution Day.” That story also failed to identify dictator Fidel Castro or his brother Raul as Communist leaders.

That communist ideology, as practiced by the Khmer Rouge and the Castro dictatorship, has been behind the extermination of over one-hundred million innocent humans seems an irrelevant fact to the New York Times.

You cannot have a con without a setup, and here comes the setup:

U.S. food sales to Cuba in steep decline

*U.S. prohibition on credit to Cuba hits food sales

July 27 (Reuters) - U.S. food sales to Cuba fell by 35 percent from January through May compared with the same period in 2009, as the cash-strapped nation cut imports and bought from countries offering credit, a U.S.-based trade group said on Tuesday.

The steep decline followed a 24-percent drop in sales to the island in 2009 after record sales of $710 million in 2008.

That is the ultimate goal of the lobbyists in Washington, to give credit to Cuba's dictatorship. Sure, they know the Castro regime will default on this credit, but they do not care; they will still get paid no matter what happens. It is us, the U.S. taxpayer, that will get stuck with the bill for this multi-billion dollar con job.

It seems that the Canadian government has warned its citizens that there is at least one thing Canadians should not do while visiting Cuba.

Not libre in Cuba

Calgary Herald July 28, 2010

Cody LeCompte's story is a sad cautionary tale about visiting Cuba -- a popular destination for Canadian tourists and one full of pitfalls of the kind that trapped LeCompte.

The 19-year-old from Simcoe, Ont., is languishing at a Cuban resort, forbidden to leave the country until a court decides whether he'll face charges in a May traffic accident. LeCompte and his mother, Danette, say they were broadsided by a dump truck at an intersection, but under Cuban law, one is guilty until proven innocent.

The LeComptes need to take some responsibility for Cody's predicament. The travel warnings on Canada's Foreign Affairs website are clear: "Canadians should avoid driving in Cuba. . . . Under the Cuban judicial system, charges are not laid until the investigation is complete, and the accused may be jailed during the entire period of investigation." Moreover, at 19, Cody should not have been driving a rental car, which are permitted in Cuba only for drivers over 21.

Canadians need to follow their government's advice and avoid driving in Cuba. They can, however, continue enjoying steak and lobster meals while Cubans starve, buying whatever they like in stores, using actual toilet paper, high-speed internet access, boat rides, spacious hotel suites, fishing trips, and all the rest of the amenities the island nation offers its tourists but not its residents with no worries.

Hey, and those cute girls and boys that hang out outside your hotel? Go ahead, go for it--you'll be amazed how appreciative they are if you give them a pair of jeans and a bar of soap. (wink-wink-nudge-nudge)

But whatever you do, don't drive in Cuba.

More of this, please:

14 Weeks from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

(H/T Moe Lane)