Is it just me, or is the news reading more and more like Granma?  Obama wants this, Obama says such and such, in more and more speeches, and he is just full of ideas.

Today it is more jobs, what's in store for tomorrow?  Light bulbs and rice cookers?

Myself with Henry Agueros, Esteban Fernandez of Periódico 20 de Mayo, and Junta Patriotica members Joel Borges and  Gilberto Perez at the Jose Marti Plaza in Los Angeles.

We read the  manisfesto internacional por los Derechos Humanos en Cuba, 05-12-09.

Nosotros, cubanos en el exilio, unidos en una cadena internacional por la libertad y la democracia en Cuba, hemos acordado manifestar hoy 5 de diciembre de 2009, junto a nuestros amigos en cada ciudad, nuestro rechazo a las reiteradas y flagrantes violaciones de los derechos humanos en Cuba.

 Es por ello que en más de trece ciudades de Europa y América hablamos a una misma voz y expresamos:

 1- Demandamos la libertad incondicional de todos los presos políticos cubanos, que se ponga fin al terrorismo de Estado contra la población civil y el cese de la dictadura como forma de gobierno en la isla.

 2- Nuestro respaldo y solidaridad a todas las fuerzas de la sociedad civil en Cuba que buscan encausar a la nación por sendas de progreso, libertad y democracia.

 3- Nuestra alerta a la opinión pública y a la comunidad internacional sobre las nuevas estrategias de la dictadura castrista, que pretende amordazar a la comunidad internacional para que no se interese por las flagrantes violaciones de los derechos humanos en Cuba.

 Suscrito en Miami, Tampa, Hialeah, West Palm Beach, West New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles,  San Juan de Puerto Rico, Toronto, Roma, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona y Marbella, hoy 5 Diciembre de 2009.

Here is my very rough translation, please someone, correct any errors:

We, Cubans in exile, from more than thirteen cities of Europe and America united in an international chain for freedom and democracy in Cuba. We stood with our friends in each city to reiterate our rejection of the flagrant violations of human rights in Cuba. In solidarity, we expressed in a united voice these demands:

 1- We demand the unconditional freedom of all the Cuban political prisoners, an end to the terrorism of the State against the civil populace and the end of the dictatorship as the form of government in the island.

  2- We endorse and are in solidarity with all the forces of the civil society in Cuba that strive for progress, freedom, and democracy for Cuba.

 3- We alert the public and the international community about the new strategies used by the Castro dictatorship to control and manipulate public opinion in order to squash international interest in the flagrant violations of human rights in Cuba.

 Subscribed in Miami, Tampa, Hialeah, West Palm Beach, West New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Juan of Puerto Rico, Toronto, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona and Marbella, today 5 December of 2009.

Please excuse our ragged looks, as Henry and I were sin sleep after attending a late night Albita concert.  More about that here.

Stones and Hells Angels on stage at Altamont, Dec. 6, 1969

Actually tomorrow makes the "40 years ago today."

In fact, the music at this gig was dynamite

Alas, it was seriously upstaged by other events.

"But what's puzzling you, is the nature...."

Am I in a blogosphere version of I am Legend here or what?

Time for digital satellite:

I’ll be the first to admit that anti-trust law is not my strong suit.  The myriad implications of cable giant Comcast’s proposed acquisition of NBC are complexities beyond the grasp of most mortals.  Legions of attorneys will put legions of children through college with the fees that this transaction will generate.  This is the kind of stimulus that will inject much-needed capital into the private country club sector of the economy.

But beyond the regulatory and legal minutia that technically govern this proposed deal, one obscenely crass, downright offensive action by Comcast’s CEO warrants the application of withering scrutiny to the merger.

A day, one single day, after the two media giants announced their deal, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts proudly weighed in to strongly support the Senate Democrats’ health care reform bill.

I'm proud to say I've been cable-free since 2000! Haven't missed it one bit...

I feel like picadillo. This week has been a meat grinder.

Tell me something good.

Since the following news item has nothing to do with the embargo or the lifting of travel sanctions, the majority of the arbiters of "truth" - the MSM - are ignoring it. However, Newsmax speaks truth to power:

Cuban Dissident Groups Unite, Decry Repression

HAVANA -- Activists from 32 little-known organizations opposed to Cuba's communist government issued a call for an end to social repression on the island at a Thursday gathering in the home of a prominent human rights activist.

The event took place in the western Havana home of internationally known activist Francisco Chaviano, a veteran Cuban dissident who was released in 2007 after 13 years in prison.

Participants crowded into a small room where Chaviano read a statement on behalf of the grass-roots political groups from 10 Cuban provinces.

They demanded free elections, the release of all prisoners held for political motives and full state respect for human rights. The statement also said the only way for Cuba to survive the global economic crisis was for the government to ease bans on private business ownership and free enterprise.

In fact, he is a typical lefty wuss.  A pampered elite who has made a fortune spreading universal alarm about global warning, which as many of us knew all along is a false theory based on junk science. Now that the house that Al built is about to crumble, where is Mr. Global Warming?

Hiding out apparently, or maybe he has a cold, is a cold a "great annoyance" or maybe he's over his carbon footprint limit ... or something.

From the Washington Times:

Gore cancels climate conference event

Former Vice President Al Gore on Thursday abruptly canceled a Dec. 16 personal appearance that was to be staged during the United Nations' Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which begins next week.

As described in The Washington Times' Inside the Beltway column Tuesday, the multimedia public event to promote Mr. Gore's new book, "Our Choice," included $1,209 VIP tickets that granted the holder a photo opportunity with Mr. Gore and a "light snack."

Berlingkse Media, a Danish group coordinating ticket sales and publicity for the event, said that "great annoyance" was a factor in the cancellation, along with unforeseen changes in Mr. Gore's program for the climate summit. The decision affected 3,000 ticket holders.

"We have had a clear-cut agreement, and it is unusual with great disappointment that we have to announce that Al Gore cancels. We had a huge expectation for the event. . . . We do not yet know the detailed reasons for the cancellation," said Lisbeth Knudsen, CEO of Berlingske Media, in a statement posted by the company.

The ClimateDepot,com, an online news aggregator that tracks global-warming news reports, referred to the situation as "Nopenhagen," and evidence that popular momentum for the Copenhagen conference "is fading."

There are a few floor shows taking place stateside as well.

Pajamas Media founder Roger L. Simon and independent filmmaker Lionel Chetwynd -- both members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Oscar nominees -- have called on the academy to rescind Mr. Gore's Oscars in light of the Climategate revelations.

"In the history of the academy, not to my knowledge has an Oscar ever been rescinded. I think they should rescind this one," Mr. Simon said Thursday.

News that British and American scientists had manipulated global warming statistics to suit their agenda was made public two weeks ago after their personal e-mails were posted on the Internet.

The film version of Mr. Gore's book "An Inconvenient Truth" won two Oscars in 2007 -- for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song.

The article is here.

H/T:  Melek

Highly decorated World War II veteran ordered to remove flag:

90 year-old Colonel Van Barfoot has until Friday to remove the flagpole from his yard.

Since this saga began, it's been played out on the radio from Washington D.C. to Boston, but many believe what is happening to this true American hero is tarnishing the image of Richmond.

Barfoot lives in the Sussex Square community in western Henrico County. He moved there in July, and was ordered to remove the flagpole from his front lawn when he flew the flag on Labor Day, and again on Veterans Day.

The homeowner's association doesn't explicitly forbid flagpoles but they must be "aesthetically appropriate". Short flags are allowed on porches, but Barfoot says that's not the way he was raised to respect the flag.

"First of all, it's not dignified, and it shows you got it in the half mast position... you can walk around here and I'll bet you the American flag is hanging out in the rain, nobody ever checks it", says Barfoot.

Family members say he's the most decorated American combat veteran alive. Barfoot has been awared more than 20 medals, including the Medal of Honor, The Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, The Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts.

Wounded in combat three times, Barfoot fought in World War II and in Vietnam.

And he has the support of a lot of people, including Senator Mark Warner. Warner says he's outraged Barfoot's neighborhood association wants him to remove the flagpole from his yard.

Barfoot says he will take it to court.

Meanwhile, the Sussex Square Homeowner's Association issued a statement saying in part, "This is not about the American flag. This is about a flagpole... We are a neighborhood of patriotic Americans, many of whom have served our country in the military as Col. Barfoot has done.."

The homeowner's association also says Barfoot knew from the beginning that he wasn't supposed to have a flagpole without permission.

The folks doing this are not worthy to tie this man's shoes. I betcha they're all squishy compassionate libs, all worried about unimportant bullshit.

By Yoani Sanchez

A friend swore to me ten years ago that he would not go to the beach again until he could buy—near the sand—a beer in national currency. His pasty white legs confirm that he hasn’t been to the sea for a decade, while waiting to pay for a Cristal beer with his own wages. My neighbor on the corner gave her word that she would not cut her hair before a certain date longed for by many Cubans. Lice made her break her promise at the beginning of the nineties, by which time her hair reached her waist. Recently she changed her strategy and put a glass of water on the wardrobe; she will only remove it when her exiled children can return to live with her.

Tiny wooden houses rest on a tomb in Havana Cemetery. They are the material expression of requests to la Milagrosa, the miracle worker, to provide housing for those who want to escape the paternal home or a crowded collective hostel. Along with these miniatures there are toy planes and boats, to realize the dream of escaping from the insular world to one of natural size. In the same cemetery, to the south, is the tomb of the famous medium who embodied the spirit of Tá José. A rooster, whose head was cut off right there, was offered by some young man who finally achieved a highly coveted position in a foreign firm.

Others are waiting for the miracle of an exit permit, for the release of a political prisoner, or for a license to open a small restaurant. This seems to be the island of impossibilities, the land of unfulfilled promises, the country of offerings withheld, asked for but never received. I myself have sworn that I am not going to stop writing because each of my lines is a prayer from one who can’t take it any more, the virtual vote from one who has let her hair grow, put her offering on the marble and seen several glasses of water dry up.

Need a new car?

How about this one.

Taken last week during a march against Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua

Via our good friend George from TheRealCuba.com

From Accuracy in Media:

"You may not have noticed that the Obama Administration, in addition to trying to seize control of the health care and energy sectors, is implementing a national "broadband plan" to redefine the media and transform America's system of government. It's designed, they say, to provide "open government and civic engagement." But it looks increasingly like an excuse for the federal government to control the Internet and access to information and even tell us what is truth."

A one-sided public funded radio show hosted by Robert W. McChesney, a socialist professor from the University of Illinois with a restrictive leftist guest list, may be the start up model for what they have in mind.

McChesney told AIM that his program "is very popular in our community" and that "The free market has spoken." But his show is not dependent on the free market. Rather, it is supported by tax dollars and on-air fundraisers hosted by McChesney and guests such as Noam Chomsky of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, a Communist Party spin-off.

New Socialist Media

While the McChesney show has a very small listening audience, its format and themes may give us some insight into the kind of "new media" we could expect from passage of the $50 billion "Public Media Trust Fund," a Free Press proposal which is supposed to be financed by a tax on home electronic devices. This would be on top of the $8 billion from taxpayers that has been provided to the CPB for public TV and radio since 1967. (The CPB currently receives about $400 million a year.)

A professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, McChesney has said that "media reform" should be part of the march toward socialism in America and that capitalism has to be dismantled "brick by brick." Van Jones, the ousted communist "Green Jobs Czar" of the Obama Administration, served on the Free Press board with McChesney in 2007 and 2008.

Read AIM's entire  The $50 Billion New Socialist Media  report here.

H/T:  Joe Lima

Capital hill Cubans to Spanish Government:

Get some dignity.

Let's make this a Thursday open-thread since I seem to be the only living Babalu contributor...

If I were a "journalist," and this was the state of my profession, I'd change careers purely out of shame:

Comedy Central Scoops Network News on Climate-Gate Scandal

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

ABC didn't cover it. CBS didn't either. And NBC apparently wouldn't go near it.

The network news broadcasts have ignored a growing scandal over evidence of a potential climate cover-up — and now they've even been scooped by the fake news at Comedy Central.

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" produced its "reporting" on Climate-gate Tuesday night, when Stewart quipped, “Poor Al Gore. Global warming completely debunked via the very Internet you invented. Oh, oh, the irony!”

Stewart described leaked e-mails from Britain's University of East Anglia, including one referring to a researcher's "trick" to "hide the decline" in some temperature readings in recent decades.

"It's just scientist-speak for using a standard statistical technique — recalibrating data – in order to trick you," Stewart said sarcastically.

Mind-blowing.

The money quote, "My vote is a lesson for anyone who pretends to perpetuate himself in power. My vote is so that my son can look at me and say 'Dad you defended democracy," said Antonio Rivera of Lobo's conservative National Party."

Read it here.

Now here's some legislation that I can really support, especially given that a good number of Obama administration personnel are, well, tax cheats:

Congressmen John Carter (R-TX) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) yesterday introduced the Geithner Penalty Waiver Act, requiring that the IRS assess the same penalty against U.S. taxpayers that came forward in the UBS tax fraud investigation as paid by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for failing to pay taxes on his IMF income — zero.

…“Taxpayers who willfully attempt to evade paying their fair taxes should pay a penalty, or our tax code becomes unenforceable,” says Carter. “This bill is not to reward tax evaders, but to defend the Rule of Law itself. If we as a nation choose not to enforce the law against the politically privileged, then we cannot enforce the law against others without undermining respect for the law itself.”

Via TaxProfBlog.