The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg recently went to Cuba at the bidding of that island's dictator. The results weren't pretty. The tone of the first two articles by our man in Havana makes clear that he was intent on presenting Fidel Castro as a charming old rogue, a bit of a cute killer.
Then, suddenly, news happened. The octogenarian reprobate had five seconds of lucidity and uttered to his shocked interviewer: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." Tell that to Obama.
#1
For the last &#!%! time, Jeffrey Goldberg isn't an apologist for communism, or even particularly liberal. He was an Israeli prison guard, for the love of Mike! Honest - he wrote a book about it. He's a foreign-policy neocon, who usually concentrates on the Middle East.
And one of the important points in the Goldberg articles was that Castro's surprisingly spry and active for someone on the brink of death four years ago. The Fox columnist is clearly so blinkered by his spinal-reflexive (and utterly justified, mind you) hatred of Castro that he's lost all sense of proportion.
Historically speaking, Jeffrey Goldberg hasn't even been my favorite writer named "Goldberg", but he's been on a roll the last month or two.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/14/2010 14:54 Comments ||
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Mike Gonzalez, Vice President of Communications for The Heritage Foundation, is a widely experienced international correspondent, commentator and editor. He spent 15 years reporting from Europe and Asia before leaving journalism to join the administration of George W. Bush, where he helped explain financial and foreign policy.
As a boy of 12, Gonzalez left his native Cuba with his mother and sister, fleeing the Castro dictatorship. After two years in Madrid, Spain, the family settled in Queens, New York, in 1974.
#4
He tried to retract his claim that the Cuban Model doesn't even work by saying he meant Capitalism doesn't even work for us anymore. I suspect he meant it the way Goldberg reported it and the second statements were backtracking but still.
A hallmark of latin oligarchies is a huge, entrenched, politically powerful public sector union movement that sucks up significant financial resources and that is a key political player with its own sense of entitlement and process rights-- see PEMEX.
In those societies, you're either part of a large "corporate" or sectoral interest (the oil industry, agri-barons, educationists etc) that's allied with the state bureaucracy, or you're out of luck, as is the case with small and medium-sized buisinessmen, professionals, farmers who don't own large latifundia or estates, and peons generally.
The economy in these oligarchies is what the marxists call an "epiphenomenon," a reflection of the prevailing political force configuration. Politics is what drives economic resource allocation, not market forces.
#2
"unions were brutally attacked and demonized,"
And for a very good reason.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/14/2010 13:37 Comments ||
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#3
The U.S. now has 403 billionaires with a collective net worth of $1.3 trillion. The Top 20 include:
1. Warren Buffet
2. Bill Gates
3. Sheldon Adelson
4. Larry Ellison
5. The Waltons (Including Johnboy?)
6. Sergey Brin
7. Larry Page
8. Charles & David Koch
9. Michael Dell
10. Paul Allen
11. Kirk Kerkorian
12. Steven Ballmer
13. Abigail Johnson
14. Carl Icahn
15. Mars Family
16. Jack C. Taylor
17. Donald Bren
18. Anne Cox Chambers
19. Michael Bloomberg
20. George Kaiser
#4
DAILY TIMES.PK > [Beijing Expert Ding Yifan]"BEWARE STARTING US-CHINA TRADE WAR", as in the former's view the US WILL BE THE LOSER IN SAID SAME WAR.
AND
* DAILY STAR [Lebanon] > US DEMS BRACE FOR FALLOUT AS US POVERTY RATES ON TRACK TO POST/MAKE RECORD GAINS IN 2009 [NOT seen in US since 1960's = Year 1965].
ARTIC = RATES FOR US WORKING-CLASS POOR going "BACK TO THE FUTURE" of 1965 + POTUS LBJ's "GREAT SOCIETY" PROGRAMS espec Johnson's "WAR ON POVERTY" PROGRAM.
* ARAB TIMES > ECNOMISTS DIRE WARNINGS ABOUT US ECONOMIC APOCALYPSE GAINS GROUND.
ALL TOGETHER NOW, WID FEELING, SONG > "HEY, HEY, CLASS OF '65....IT MAY-Y-Y [not] BE ALRIGHT"???
To cold-blooded political junkies, the idea of Delaware Republicans tossing Castle is nuts. He's led every poll from the beginning, has won no fewer than twelve statewide elections in Delaware, and has demonstrated appeal to independents and Democrats. His primary opponent, Christine O'Donnell, is an erratic, if very energetic, conservative Catholic religio-political activist mainly known for outspoken views about sex that would have been considered a bit too rigid in 1950. She also holds the distinction of having unsuccessfully sued a right-wing think tank for gender discrimination after it fired her, and she possesses a history of personal financial woes that would not normally appeal to the pay-your-own-damn-mortgage Tea Party crowd. But she's had a lot of exposure on conservative national media, and managed to win the GOP nomination against Biden in 2008, garnering 35 percent of the vote that November. Not another Republican on a mission from God?
I've always bought the William Buckley plan: vote for the most conservative person who is electable. Castle is more conservative than the Democrat but much less so than O'Donnell. But O'Donnell isn't electable.
#1
Is O'Donnell really unelectable? What guarantee is there that Castle won't vote with the Democrats in the future? Because Castle looks like a donk, voters might say, I might as well vote for the Democrat since there might be a penny's worth of difference or less between the Castle and the donk. So the choice is between the evil of two lessers? Is Castle really going to change what's wrong with Washington?
#2
O'Donnell sounds good. But that harassment lawsuit of hers doomed her. And should. Either it was an abuse of the legal process (my bet) or she's way too fragile to be given a position of responsibility.
#3
Yeah, you know what? I don't care what Palin says, O'Donnell gives off the distinct stench of snake oil. Castle may be as RINO as they come, but O'Donnell is worse than a crank, she's a scoundrel.
And that headline's an insult to Sharron Angle. At least she managed to get elected to the state legislature.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/14/2010 11:25 Comments ||
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#4
I'm sure Ms. Angle is a good person, but criky, Barney Fife would have beaten Harry Reid going away. She could win in Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Georgia but Nevada isn't exactly the Bible Belt. With half the states voters in Las Vegas, this is going to be a tough slog.
It's too bad the Tea Party sometimes tended to pick the purist over the practical in the best traditions of the Kamikaze.
#5
Delaware Democrats outnumber Republicans by 22 percent in voter registration. That means you need someone who can pull in 11% of the Democrats just to get a tie. Castle is familiar to the voters there having served as both Governor twice and the House in a statewide seat (Delaware has only one House district). He has proved to be electable in a statewide election several times.
O'Donnell is likely to motivate Democrats to the polls to keep her out of office. Running a very "red" candidate in a deep "blue" state is a dumb idea even if she is popular with the Republican base. The Republican base does not get you elected in the general.
I am less interested in how O'Donnell polls against Castle than I am how she polls against the Democrats in the race in bi-partisan polling.
Delaware independent voters, by the way, tend to lean Democrat as they are mostly former Democrats anyway.
#6
I will have to go digging for the complete info and links, but here is the ultimate reason that Castle needs to be jettisoned whether we gain the seat or not.
Castle is more than a RINO, he is a saboteur. He co-founded a ostensibly pro Republican PAC that has very strong ties to Soros (funding) and this PAC has been engaged in some decidedly non conservative things.
Castle has to go. Time to put principal over political pragmatism. Why yes, I am a RINO hunter.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
09/14/2010 14:22 Comments ||
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#7
Yeesh. Like I said, the stench rolling off O'Connell reminds me of the bad old days when I worked as a clerk in a convenience store in one of State College's student ghettos, and some of the local neo-hippies would come in wafting behind them, not just a cloud, but rather an olfactory battle to the death between body odor and pachouli.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/14/2010 14:33 Comments ||
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#8
Lets stop bagging on Angle. She's the candidate. Time to get her over the top. Latest Rasmussen has her dead even with the execrable Harry Reid. That's after Reid dumped in more than $11m in negative advertising (together with freebie attacks from the AP and other fellow travelers). Nevada only has 2.6m people. Got that? Harry has already spent over $4 per voter in Nevada attacking Angle and the race is still dead even. We can win this.
#9
Crosspatch, 2010-09-14 13:09. If the donks outnumber the trunks in Delaware by 22% and independents are largely donks, how did Castle ever get elected? There must have been some crossover vote or some independent vote going his way. What choices???: Reid vs. Angle and Castle or O'Donnell vs. the donk. I'd have to go with Angle in Nevada if I were voting there. Either Castle or O'Donnell sounds like a kamikaze trip. The fact that Angle got dinged by Righthaven doesn't bother me. The are sleezeballs looking for a quick buck. Castle being linked with Soros is bad news in my mind. Soros is another slimeball.
#10
Angle is a pretty reasonable person if one takes time to read and listen to what she says. The MFM is going all out after all at Dingy Harry's request to try and save him.
Whereas, I think O'Donnell is a bit of a nutter, and I think the people of Delaware know that. Castle isn't my kind of Pub, far from it in fact, but if the Pubs can get to 51, his first vote will be for a Pub majority leader. After that he can sit on the back bench. I guess I'm looking at the next two years as opposed to trying to purify the ranks for the next decade.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2010 19:04 Comments ||
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#11
Well, apparently they're projecting O'Donnell to win, so the Tea Party and the Pubs better pull together if they don't want to be represented by a Donk for the next two years.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/14/2010 21:43 Comments ||
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#12
I've always bought the William Buckley plan: vote for the most conservative person who is electable. Castle is more conservative than the Democrat but much less so than O'Donnell. But O'Donnell isn't electable.
That's a candy store, not politics. At a candy store, you get what's on display and not much else. If the shopping experience sux, so will the purchase you made.
A blue republican is worse than a blue democrat.
Politics is not just the numbers, it is also leadership. The people of Delaware may be blue and may well vote blue, but it appears they have not until this day had much of a choice.
Win or lose, this is a terrific choice. Yes, Ms. O'Donnell is a flawed candidate, but I will take a flawed conservative republican over a slick blue republican any day.
#13
Win or lose, this is a terrific choice. Yes, Ms. O'Donnell is a flawed candidate, but I will take a flawed conservative republican over a slick blue republican any day.
Amen. But there is more to this as well. Castle has been retired...sent HOME! He is out of the House and he won't be going to the Senate!
Also, this is a BIG shot across the bow of the Republican Establishment Elite (all RINO's BTW.) that we are not having their crap anymore. They will start acting like Republicans, and, they'll return to Conservatism...or else their turn to retire is coming.
I'm in Texas, and we're working hard now to see that KBH gets a ticket home in 2012, and Cornyn gets his Pink Slip in 2014. We are also helping our fellow out of State RINO Hunters collect scalps as well.
The GOP can either come back to the Party's platform and values, or it will be hit the road Jack. We expect to have a few setbacks, not being able to jettison McCain is regrettable. Next time.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
09/14/2010 22:40 Comments ||
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PM Netanyahu has repeatedly said that until the Palestinians accept Israel's right to exist, and to exist as a Jewish state, there is nothing else to negotiate. President Abbas refuses to accept Israel as a Jewish state. All the rest is play-acting to keep President Obama from fussing at them.
By all rights Ibn Warraq should have a regular column in a prestige newspaper but unfortunately guys like Fareed Zakaria do (which I suppose is why Newsweek was overpriced at $1.00).
In this opinion piece Warraq calls attention to the prevarications, dodges, evasions and contortions of Iman Rauf's collected writings and speakings. Excellent commentary, lg; well done
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/14/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
