Val Prieto

Little Green Footballs posted this picture to our armed forces.

There is nothing in the world like a US Soldier. Nothing.

I will post these little “insights” from time to time, so, here, without further ado, is the first:

It’s the weekend. A beautiful Saturday morning, skies are blue, no clouds, and it’s pretty hot. You decide to take advantage of the fact you live in Miami and you pack your cooler, grab some big, colorful towels, folding chairs and umbrella. You stop somewhere on the way for suntan lotion and sunblock. You are going to the beach!

So you get there, park your car, fill the parking meter with enough change for the day, grab all your stuff and head straight for the shore. The sand is already hot but it doesn’t bother you as in a minute or two you will be frollicking in the Atlantic Ocean.

You stab your umbrella into the sand, set up the folding chairs and pause, for a second, to take in that delicious sea air. There’s little kids everywhere, playing ball, making sand castles, jumping in and out of the beautiful blue-green wet stuff. All the while the waves hitting the shore is a constant song.

You open your cooler, grab a cold one, pop it open and drop into your beach chair, ready to relax.

You see a couple of kids pulling something out of the water. It’s hard to tell at first what it is because of the waves. They’re struggling with it even though you’re pretty sure it floats. When they finally manage to get it out of the water you see that it’s a piece of wood. It looks like a two-by-ten, a piece of lumber about 5 feet long. It has some ropes tied to it.

So what’s your first thought when you see this?

“Geez. What if that’s a piece of someone’s raft?”

“Compay.” My dad says that all the time. Compay. In Cuban it means friend.
“Oye, compay, como estas?”
At 95, Cuba’s Compay Segundo, of the Buena Vista Social Club fame, died yesterday. Not only have we lost a brilliant musician, but a buen Compay.

If you’ve never heard his music, drop me a line, I’ll gladly send you a tune or two.

Wanna lift the embargo?..OK fine…
Want to peddle your wares over in Havana?…OK fine…
What? You have FOOD you can sell in Cuba?…OK fine…
Here’s my IOU…I’ll pay you back….promise.

Please check this post out at Serenity’s Journal.

It really speaks for itself.

“Bring ’em on.”

I have been asked numerous times why I think there is such an affinity towards Castro by the Hollywood crowd. To which I always want to respond “Because they are complete fucking assholes with no fucking idea of what is happening outside the lens of the camera.” But, I don’t, mainly because I have no friggin idea why these people would support a tyrant like Castro.

I mean, most of the Hollywood Castro supporters are leftists which supposedly stand for things such as:

Human rights
Freedom of Speech
Civil Rights

etcetera.

Why then, would an actor like, say, Danny Glover, an African-American who, no doubt, is a follower of the teachings of Martin Luther King support a regime where MLK’s words aren’t even allowed to be read. It makes no sense at all to me.

Could it be that these Hollywood types are so anti-Bush that they would hop into bed with anyone who has stated a disgerard and general disdain for our President? The enemy of my enemy is my ally type of thing?

I really have no answer, but would like to know what you all think.

Castro’s recent crackdown on dissidents has been the subject of quite a few articles and news stories lately. One reads of their plight and thinks “How sad,” or “those poor people,” yet, even though we understand what a terribly depressing situation these political prisoners are in, sometimes it’s difficult to truly take to heart as we see only their names in print. It’s not easy imagining them as real people.

The Center for a Free Cuba has a very touching photo exhibit depicting not only those encarcerated, but their loved ones on the outside, which, being Cuba, is just a bigger cell. Those faces speak volumes.

I fought a losing battle against tears while seeing this for the first time because, well, any one of those solemn people could be my mother, or father, or wife or brother.

I’m not one to play google site search fun but, this one I thought was pretty cool.

Google search : weapons of mass destruction

click I’m feeling Lucky

enjoy…or not…

(Hat tip Nestor)

I was having some family and friends over for a get together the other day and went to a dollar store nearby to get some miscellaneous crap and found these really cool looking, cheapo, Made In China oil lamps for two bucks each. They look like the old railroad lamps the conductors use in all those old movies. I bought a bunch of them because I thought they would look great in Man Camp (more on Man Camp at a later date). So I set them up all over, filled them and basically waited for it to get dark to light’em up.

At the get together every one loved them. I kept patting myself on the back as I had gotten them for 2 bucks each. When it finally started to get dark, the party started thining out. Only a few people remained, including my parents. So I take my dad with me to Man Camp and help me light the lamps.

“Do you know why I was imprisoned in Cuba?” He asks me.

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AN OPEN LETTER IN SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE OF IRAN FROM THE WEBLOGGING COMMUNITY

We are not politicians, nor are we generals. We hold no power to dispatch diplomats to negotiate; we can send no troops to defend those who choose to risk their lives in the cause of freedom.

What power we have is in our words, and in our thoughts. It is that strength which we offer to the people of Iran today.

Across the diverse and often contentious world of weblogs, each of us has chosen to put aside our differences and come together to declare our unanimity on the following simple principles:

– That the people of Iran are allies of free men and women everywhere in the world, and deserve to live under a government of their own choosing, which respects their own personal liberties.

– That the current Iranian regime has failed to create a free and prosperous society, and attempts to mask its own failures by repression and tyranny.

We do not presume to know what is best for the people of Iran; but we are firm in our conviction that the policies of the current government stand in the way of the Iranian people’s ability to make those choices for themselves.

And so we urge our own governments to turn their attention to Iran. The leaders and diplomats of the world’s democracies must be clear in their opposition to the repressive actions of the current Iranian regime, but even more importantly, must be clear in their support for the aspirations of the Iranian people.

And to the people of Iran, we say: You are not alone. We see your demonstrations in the streets; we hear of your newspapers falling to censorship; and we watch with anticipation as you join the community of the Internet in greater and greater numbers. Our hopes are with you in your struggle for freedom. We cannot and will not presume to tell you the correct path to freedom; that is for you to choose. But we look forward to the day when we can welcome your nation into the community of free societies of the world, for we know with deepest certainty that such a day will come.

We should show support for those being stifled by a repressive government every chance we get. Then maybe, just maybe, the rest of the world will begin to understand how important things like freedom of speech and expression are.

(Via Dean Esmay)