I love Jay Nordlinger, Part 1722

I just received the following via email from National Review’s Jay Nordlinger:

Wanted to draw your attention to the first item in my Impromptus column today — that column is found here.
A friend of mine bought a rare, signed baseball card featuring Fidel Castro. (Yes, a Castro baseball card.) Taking a page from Rush Limbaugh, he is auctioning it on eBay. The proceeds will go to the Center for a Free Cuba.
If you can spread the word, great. In any case, I wanted you to know about it. Kind of an unusual, nervy, imaginative, semi-thrilling thing.
Yours,
Jay Nordlinger

Here’s the card, from Ebay:

I especially appreciate the text from the Ebay page:

Please note that ALL proceeds for this auction are to be paid as a contribution to the Center for a Free Cuba, whose address I list below. (This portion of the auction is in compliance with eBay policy given that I have obtained written consent on this charity’s letterhead, and included a scanned copy of that letter in this listing.)
As described on its website, “The Center for a Free Cuba (CFC) is an independent, non-partisan institution dedicated to promoting human rights and a transition to democracy and the rule of law on the island. Established in November 1997, the Center gathers and disseminates information about Cuba and Cubans to the media, NGOs, and the international community. The Center also assists the people of Cuba through its information outreach and humanitarian programs on the island. The Center has received a 501(c)(3) exemption from the Internal Revenue Service. Contributions to the Center are tax deductible.”
To learn more about the Center for a Free Cuba, please check out their website at:
http://www.cubacenter.org/
or write to them at:
Center for a Free Cuba
1320 19th Street, NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
ALL folks interested in bidding on this item should be FULLY aware that this item — which contains an authentic cut signature of Fidel Castro — has been substantially modified since it was manufactured by The Topps Company. Allow me to explain.
Since card manufacturers began including cut-signature items in their offerings, some people in the hobby have speculated as to whether or not any card company would ever cross the line of good taste by offering an inappropriate — offensive — product (for example, a cut-signature card bearing Adolf Hitler’s signature). Although Topps in general should be commended for doing a good job with regard to most of the cut-signature cards it has created the last several years, Topps has clearly vaulted over the line of common decency by creating a cut-signature card of Communist dictator Fidel Castro, one of the most notorious mass murderers in the history of the Western hemisphere.
The card is clearly an attempt to portray Fidel in a positive light — note, for example, the baseball cap that Castro is pictured wearing on the front of the card. What is the message Topps is attempting to send? That being a mass murderer is somehow “OK” and “acceptable” so long as that person is also a… baseball fan???
To more accurate reflect the true Castro legacy, the card has been altered so that it now includes numerous words and phrases pertaining to Fidel on both the front and back of the card. For example, phrases on the front of the card now include:
* mass murderer
* Communist
* El Manbu concentration camp
* Free Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Oscar Biscet!
And, phrases on the back of the card now include:
* firing squads
* author of the Camilo-Cienfuegos forced labor plan
* violator of peaceful journalists’ free-speech rights
* Remember Pedro Luis Boitel!
Also, all bidders must be aware that the corners of this card have been damaged by whacking each corner against a rather hard table several times (these damaged corners represent the damage to Cuba done by Fidel). In addition, all bidders must be aware that the sides of this card have several small cuts in them made with a knife (these cuts represent the torture — and worse — suffered by thousands of political prisoners during Fidel’s regime).
Please note that this auction is in full compliance with eBay’s Offensive Material Policy, as this auction does NOT glorify hatred, violence, racial or religious intolerance, or items that promote organizations with such views.
In fact, this auction serves as a reminder that — despite what the lamestream media, nitwit “celebrities,” and ivory-tower university ostriches would have us believe — it was Fidel who made a career out of glorifying hatred, using violence, and stoking racial and religious intolerance.
There is NO shipping/handling fee for this auction.
Show YOUR support for the individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that every human being enjoys by bidding on this item today!