are you usually this much of a limpdick?
I try. 
I used to date this girl whose Dad left Cuba after the bay of pigs fiasco. Her father was a real stand up guy; A doctor, a religious moderate who did charitable work, the kind of man who’d take a genuine interest in your life and could discuss any subject politely and rationally. Talk about Cuba though and his personality completely changed. He became (allegedly, ex-gf warned me about this so I never brought up Cuba at all the few timnes I met him) a complete fanatic, rigid, angry, scary. There was no possibility of discussion or debate.
Ex-gf said he was associated with Alpha 66, and would train with them occasionally, even though he was about 60.
Thank you. I’ll run through my address book later and let the ones I’m close to know.
I might run off a memo and distribute it at next week’s Every Single Cuban in Florida Association meeting. It’ll help guide the agenda and make sure they are all on the exact same page.
These ones.
The ones who crowded around the house, screaming and weeping whenever the poor boy came out the door, making him film videos lecturing his father, constantly posturing to the media, badmouthing and slandering his father, pulling the kid in front of the cameras at every opportunity. The ones who made threats to the federal agents, then claimed that the pictures of Elian reunited with his father, stepmother, and little brother were fake, tried to hide in the friggin’ closet when the feds finally came in to take the boy back to his family.
The ones who rioted in the streets after he went home, burning flags.
They didn’t give a shit about Elian, only about sticking it to Castro. Yeah, I’m sure he really got a GREAT impression of the US. :rolleyes:
(I’m not saying ALL Cubans living in the US are asshats, just the fanatics like the ones above)
I know how tedious it can be reading your own cites, especially when they contradict common knowledge and the propaganda point you want to make.
That’s ok. During Reagan’s first run for office, he spoke to Veterans on 9/7 saying “just like on this very day back at Pearl Harbor…”. The audience of Vets had to stop and politely correct him. I can bet his writer(s) were never seen again. :eek:
You know, Castro was organizing some demonstrations of his own regarding this issue, and when the boy returned to Cuba he certainly appeared before cameras.
All in the service of the state.
It would be nice if folks like you condemned Castro and the Cuban regime as with as much fervor and conviction as you have the Miami Cubans. But I’ve just about given up expecting that.
I thought it was Bush the Greater who made that gaffe shortly after taking office.
You have no idea! I was living in Havana at the time and for weeks we only worked half days at the office, then we were bussed to the street in front of the US interests section for daily protests. It became so routine that eventually a permanent platform was built to accomodate the daily speeches.
And you’re right, Elian has continued to be paraded in front of TV cameras pretty regularly. He’s either brought out for Fidel’s birthday, or for his own birthday, or for the anniversary of his return to Cuba, or for anything that has foreign press on hand. On the other hand because of his status he probably lives as well in Cuba as he might have lived in the US. So all in all he did all right, except for the losing his mother, and floating at sea for 3 days things.
Oh please, don’t give me a link to a wikipedia page as your fucking answer. I know more about the Elian affair than you, because I saw it in Cuba and again later in Canada. For instance did you know that the people Elian was staying with were his father’s relatives? The same father who claimed he had no idea the boy and his mother were leaving Cuba?
And since the actions of the Cubans you refer to scared you so much, I imagine you are equally as scared of blacks, people from Detroit, South Central, and even sports fans. I guess you don’t leave your house much.
The real error wasn’t about Clinton’s age. It’s that Cuba hasn’t been isolated–just by the U.S. government. Many countries deal with Cuba.
I’m afarid I don’t recall that event, and I find it unlikely. Cite?
Cite. It was Bush the Former.
Here is a better cite from the New York Times.
I’m not sure what end that would serve. I don’t think anyone doubts that Castro is a vile old Stalinist who stopped at nothing to stay in power. I expect a little more from the pro-democracy opposition.
Actually, I had some good idea - but it certainly is nice to get the information firsthand. We’re really lucky to have you around.
Ah, the soft bigotry of low expectations. 
I think we have to make a distinction, don’t we? When a demonstration forms in Miami it can be messy, and loud, and rude, but this is a demonstration of free people, and their grievances are their own.
In Havana, these mobs are orchestrated events to further state power by singling out a domestic or foreign scapegoat to blame the regimes troubles upon. The grievances aren’t freely chosen, and neither is the message.
Frankly, given the choice, it isn’t hard to decide which is more “scary”.
Are we allowed to say gusano in the Pit? Or will this offend tender sensibilities?
(I see that word as applying to the Professional Cuban Exiles. *Not * all Cuban-Americans.)
Did you know his father was his father? So what if the kidnappers were related to him? Do you have any kids? How would you feel if your own kid was (illegally) being held hostage by a mob because they decided your nationality made you an unfit parent? What bothered me was the way those people callously turned a simple family issue into a self-righteous political cause.
She shouldn’t have said “Cubans” as a category, but mobs of political zealots are frightening no matter what their ethnicity is.