Fidel Castro Resigns: Tuesday Marks Historic Moment

[Ivan Seeking]

Fidel Castro resigned Tuesday...

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hgDKj0AzfQ9SWdrvaiWh-7P7JMdg

 

[Astronuc]

Time for a change.

 

[russ_watters]

Hopefully there will be some.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

So Castro's brother will rule for another 50 years? What will change?

 

[Yonoz]

How much of the US' Cuba policy has to do with Fidel Castro himself? I would imagine the missile crisis is a major component.

 

[mgb_phys]

So Castro's brother will rule for another 50 years? What will change?

Does he have a dumber son with the same first name?

Our warmest felicitations to our American cousins who will no longer have to live under the constant fear of Cuban aggression.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Maybe now we'll be permitted to eat those Cuban Sandwiches they serve down in the cafeteria.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

Too bad this couldn't have waited until after the end of the Bush presidency, particularly given the Aristide kidnapping and all. Hopefully he's shamed too much by Iraq at this point for any more cowboy glory-seeking.

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[mgb_phys]

eat those Cuban Sandwiches

Can you call them freedom sandwiches ?

 

[CaptainQuasar]

Can you call them freedom sandwiches ?

Not until there is a McDonalds and a Burger King and a Pizza Hut on every corner in Cuba and a Wal-mart in every town. Only then will they truly be free.

P.S. Guantanamo is the only place in Cuba where there's a McDonalds right now. Let's see how long it takes that to change.

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[mheslep]

Does he have a dumber son with the same first name?

How amusing! Here's some more: perhaps Castro could anoint an inbred Royal Family with a http://www.salon.com/sept97/news/news970902.html" heir to the thrown.

Our warmest felicitations to our American cousins who will no longer have to live under the constant fear of Cuban aggression.

Yes it was all CIA propaganda. Cuban troops or advisers in: Angola (50,000 troops), Ethiopia (24,000), Yemen, Grenada. Congo, Nicaragua

 

[mgb_phys]

an inbred Royal Family with a rather dim and unpopular heir to the thrown.

We are very impressed, it's taken the royal houses of Europe centuries to achieve this level of imbicility - what's the secret to doing it so quickly?

Yes it was all CIA propaganda. Cuban troops or advisers in: Angola (50,000 troops), Ethiopia (24,000), Yemen, Grenada. Congo, Nicaragua

So with them all safely in Africa they aren't likely to invade Florida!

 

[CaptainQuasar]

Yes it was all CIA propaganda. Cuban troops or advisers in: … Nicaragua

Sending troops to Nicaragua! Gasp! Clearly Cuba is the arch-enemy of freedom and democracy. Why, the only more fiendish thing they could do would be if they sold armaments to a fundamentalist Islamic regime and then gave that money to a murderous revolutionary faction in Nicaragua.

You're not seriously going to criticize Cuba for taking sides in conflicts elsewhere in the world, are you? When the U.S. is going to be heading into its 5th year occupying Iraq shortly?

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[mheslep]

You're not seriously going to criticize Cuba for taking sides in conflicts elsewhere in the world, are you? When the U.S. is going to be heading into its 5th year occupying Iraq shortly?

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See the context. It was in response to a pretense that Cuba was never a military threat to anyone. The big bad US and little old helpless Cuba theme.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

See the context. It was in response to a pretense that Cuba was never a military threat to anyone. The big bad US and little old helpless Cuba theme.

Ah, I see. You were just responding to some America-bashing with some Brit-bashing. Well I'm all for bashing the Brits! They've got big ears and silly swear-words.

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[Jimmy Snyder]

Not until there is a McDonalds and a Burger King and a Pizza Hut on every corner in Cuba and a Wal-mart in every town. Only then will they truly be free.

Freedom isn't when they build a McDonalds, or a Burger King. Its when they build both of them and one goes out of business.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

Freedom isn't when they build a McDonalds, or a Burger King. Its when they build both of them and one goes out of business.

I'm probably getting played, but you aren't serious, are you? My point was that they already have freedom in Cuba, it just isn't our kind of freedom.

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[mgb_phys]

silly swear-words.

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I'm My point was that they already have freedom in Cuba, it just isn't our kind of freedom.

They have freedom in jail too. It just isn't my kind of freedom.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

They have freedom in jail too. It just isn't my kind of freedom.

Yeah, the Cuban idea of freedom being compatible with Castro ruling for life doesn't fit. But dude, you just said that McDonalds and Burger King competing is true freedom. Does it really fit better that our idea of freedom involves the franchises of multinational corporations being able to duke it out, or Monsanto successfully suing farmers out of existence because some GMO pollen blew into their field, or smoking in all restaurants being outlawed in some states, or the Bay of Pigs invasion, or invading and occupying Iraq for the past 5 years and who knows how many more, or the government seizing land rights from private owners to protect the environment?

I don't think we're the ones to be schooling Cuba on what freedom is.

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[mheslep]

Ah, I see. You were just responding to some America-bashing with some Brit-bashing. Well I'm all for bashing the Brits! They've got big ears and silly swear-words.⚛

Yes, wasn't claiming any American exceptionalism. Hey Captain, what's with the

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?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Does it really fit better that our idea of freedom involves the franchises of multinational corporations being able to duke it out,

Yes, any business large or small. Let the customers decide who will prosper. When the government decides who is allowed to do business, you end up with Cuban freedom.

or Monsanto successfully suing farmers out of existence because some GMO pollen blew into their field,

Everyone large or small must have access to the legal system or you end up with Cuban freedom.

or smoking in all restaurants being outlawed in some states,

Smoking in the ICU is outlawed as well. Under the current system, you can smoke and I can refrain. What's wrong with that? You can even smoke Cubans, you just have to step outside that's all.

or the Bay of Pigs invasion, or invading and occupying Iraq for the past 5 years and who knows how many more,

The regime behind Bay of Pigs is no longer in power and the regime behind the Iraq occupation is going away soon. The alternative is Cuban freedom.

or the government seizing land rights from private owners to protect the environment?

You are right, this is not freedom. Neither is it a reason to head south. Under Cuban freedom they take your land too.

I don't think we're the ones to be schooling Cuba on what freedom is.

Yes, we should. We should build all kinds of businesses and watch 80% of them fail. We should preserve our precious freedoms and those of our neighbors. We should do things that other people don't want us to do. The Cubans, and the world can see what a noisy thing freedom is, and may their tongues hang out.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

Yes, wasn't claiming any American exceptionalism. Hey Captain, what's with the

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?

That's the Unicode atomic symbol, which looks like the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_model" . If it looks like a question mark to you that means that your computer doesn't fully support Unicode, or at least that all of the fonts you have are missing that character.

http://dejavu.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page" that contains symbols like that and also most of the scientific and mathematical character sets. I think it would work with Windows, Mac, or Linux, as long as your system supports Unicode in general.

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[mgb_phys]

I wondered about that - it displays as a thick forward slash on opera+windows XP.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

What is the numerical equivalent of the character?

 

[mheslep]

That's the Unicode atomic symbol, which looks like the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_model" . If it looks like a question mark to you that means that your computer doesn't fully support Unicode, or at least that all of the fonts you have are missing that character.

Yes I have uni support and see Sir R.'s model. I just didn't get the meaning of your salutation.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

When I get vacation time, I like to go to the island of Aruba for R & R. The buzz down there is that when the US decides that us can visit Cuba, there will be resorts built right away. Apparently the Dutch have a lot of plans in this regard. The Cubans themselves would probably allow these resorts right now, but the Dutch won't build until us is allowed to go there. I don't see much hope in a leader that only received one vote, but it may be that he is willing to do what it takes to get the US to ease up.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

Yes, any business large or small. Let the customers decide who will prosper. When the government decides who is allowed to do business, you end up with Cuban freedom.

You think the government in the U.S. doesn't decide who does business? I've got two words for you: farm subsidies.

And have you run into any Cuban cigar importers lately?

Everyone large or small must have access to the legal system or you end up with Cuban freedom.

You're saying that some Cubans don't have access to the Cuban legal system? Can you cite anything that shows what you're talking about, or just be more specific even?

And does this mean that you think Monsanto ruining those farmers represents freedom?

Smoking in the ICU is outlawed as well. Under the current system, you can smoke and I can refrain. What's wrong with that? You can even smoke Cubans, you just have to step outside that's all.

Uh, in the ICU? Like, in hospitals? What does that have to do with freedom?

The regime behind Bay of Pigs is no longer in power and the regime behind the Iraq occupation is going away soon. The alternative is Cuban freedom.

You're saying that unless we do things like preemptively invade Iraq the world will become communist? Are you serious?

You sure swallowed the Cold War rhetoric hook, line, and sinker. You realize that the CIA spin doctors who made that stuff up have probably been dead for decades, right?

You are right, this is not freedom. Neither is it a reason to head south. Under Cuban freedom they take your land too.

Most of the people who live in Cuba today have probably never owned land. And many of them are probably now living and farming land that was originally part of a plantation owned by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company" or some other American company.

Yes, we should. We should build all kinds of businesses and watch 80% of them fail. We should preserve our precious freedoms and those of our neighbors. We should do things that other people don't want us to do. The Cubans, and the world can see what a noisy thing freedom is, and may their tongues hang out.

May their tongues hang out… and may they get the chance to emigrate to a capitalist wonderland like Haiti? Because if the entente between the U.S. and Cuba were to end by Cuba disavowing communism, we would of course slam the immigration door in their faces faster than we'd start importing their cigars and sugar.

Give it up, man - the U.S. kidnaps or overthrows elected leaders whenever we feel like it¹, we gladly sell weapons and give money to Saddam Hussein and people like him, we fight on the side of multinational corporations who squeeze blood from the peasants in third-world countries better than any European prince ever did, we bloody up places like Vietnam or Afghanistan if we need that kind of tool in a political war. Did you know that we trained the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to make car bombs?² Seriously? And we torture people in secret prisons.

We are not some kind of experts on freedom. We are willfully and intentionally the enemies of freedom whenever it suits our purposes.

The Cold War ended almost twenty years ago. There's no need whatsoever to pretend that Cuba is the minion of an Evil Empire that is the enemy of everything good and pure.

¹Like Aristide in Haiti in 2004 or the attempt against Chavez in Venezuela in 2001 - ever wonder why he hates us so much? Or Mohammad Mosaddeq, the elected prime minister of Iran, who we overthrew in 1953 with the help of the Brits and replaced with the Shah. We basically handed Iran over to the fundamentalist Islamists.
²That would be while the Soviets were there, not during the recent war.

P.S. The Atom symbol is hex 269B I think. If anyone has Windows Vista I'd be curious to know if it shows up properly, Vista is supposed to have better Unicode support.

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[CaptainQuasar]

Yes I have uni support and see Sir R.'s model. I just didn't get the meaning of your salutation.

Oh, I see. No particular meaning, it just seemed like a cooler reference than some quote or crazily colored text or something.

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[mheslep]

the attempt against Chavez in Venezuela in 2001 - ever wonder why he hates us so much?

Bogus. You didn't read that in any respectable news source because it never happened.