Useful Idiots
[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have returned from a five-day visit to Cuba, conducted with the aim of improving relations between the island nation and the United States. They were thrilled at the opportunity to meet Fidel Castro himself, whom they described as “very fit” and “very energetic.” Rep. Laura Richardson (D, Calif.) described the meeting thus: Castro “looked directly into our eyes” and asked how Cuba could help President Obama in his efforts to change the course of U.S. foreign policy.
How grand.
Fellow traveler Rep. Barbara Lee (D, Calif.) has advocated for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, a position presumably shared among the entire entourage. So, while they find it objectionable that the United States occupies a sliver of the island for the purpose of housing enemy combatants, they are apparently untroubled that the remainder of the island is itself little more than a prison, one maintained for half a century by their fit and energetic host but now under the stewardship of his even more fit and energetic younger brother Raul.
I hope they had a nice time.
–Jack Dunphy
I recall when Castro took over seeing his captives being led out to meet the firing squads.
Paul Albers (fe66e3) — 4/8/2009 @ 3:02 amI can still see, in my mind, their Panama style hats flying in the air as the bullets struck them.
Curiously, those films seem to have disappeared.
Castro “looked directly into our eyes” and asked how Cuba could help President Obama in his efforts to change the course of U.S. foreign policy.
I’ll bet he did.
Mars vs Hollywood (788077) — 4/8/2009 @ 3:12 amI hear they have great healthcare in Cuba. Michael Moore said something about it before his claims were debunked.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 4/8/2009 @ 4:09 amOdd, but I thought that Barack Hussein Obama was the President of the United States, and could set our foreign policy in any way he pleased. Why would President Obama need the help of former
The inquisitive Dana (3e4784) — 4/8/2009 @ 5:35 amabsolute dictatorPresident Fidel Castro to change our foreign policy?The myth that Castro has somehow helped blacks is common among many educated blacks in this country and the liberal establishment.
Free health and education but neither is worth much which explains why people leave the Island.
Worse yet Castro turned an entire society into thieves, whores and gov.t informants by determining resource allocation on regime support.
Just go to Hialeah Florida and see the volumes of “Negros” and “Mulatos” who decided for themselves what is better.
Yet these dumbos continue to monkey around with leftist dictators and sing their praises.
My only hope for these parasites and race hustlers is they move to Cuba and renounce their US citizenship.
Jimminy'cricket (637168) — 4/8/2009 @ 5:44 amMay I also add getting rid of the embargo is the fastest way to kill the regime.
By flooding Cuba with the “American Tourist” and the US Dollar — the Regime can not use the conventional US boogeyman and it will be in plain site to all Cubans they are more of a whore today for the US than in 1958.
While this irony will be lost on most, to those old enuff to remember the rhetoric of Castro and our Liberal Frems — a Coca Cola gets you a 15 year old in Havana. At least in 1958, the coke was dinner and the women/men where in the twenties.
Jimminy'cricket (637168) — 4/8/2009 @ 5:51 amThe way the left loves Castro makes me want to vomit. The Dems scream about equal rights here in the States, but totally ignore the iron-fisted oppression of so-called “communist” dictators. Barf.
J. Raymond Wright (e8d0ca) — 4/8/2009 @ 5:54 amDaley,
Michael Moore is a degenerate, vile man who deserves the worst that life can deliver. May Job’s fate smite him.
5 minutes in a US Hospital versus 5 in Cuba is enough to see this film as a BIG LIE. A dying person in Cuba can not get meds, can not get clean sheets, is mostly ignored by Hospital staff and is left to die like an animal.
Get Cancer in Cuba — it is a death sentence.
Even the worst of the worst Medicaid Programs shine as centers of excellence in comparison to the butcher shop called a hospital or clinic in Cuba.
Jimminy'cricket (637168) — 4/8/2009 @ 5:57 amJ Ray,
Castro brought social justice to Cuba ….. equal misery and oppression to those who don’t participate in propping up the Regime.
Obama, Castro Light Policies
Jimminy'cricket (637168) — 4/8/2009 @ 5:58 amCricket, do not wish major health issues on the leftist turds. That is offensive and unhelpful.
John Hitchcock (fb941d) — 4/8/2009 @ 6:14 amit’s interesting that the book “the forgotten man” starts off detailing a visit of useful idiots to Stalin’s russia before the depression. history seems to be repeating down to useful idiots the new generation visiting a different stalinist state.
I’m just waiting for some guy named smoot to get elected to congress.
joe (cd2721) — 4/8/2009 @ 6:44 amNot a one of these useful idiots would be willing to move there.
JD (8e9826) — 4/8/2009 @ 6:56 amWhy is there a Congressional Black Caucus? I thought congressional representatives were elected to serve all their constituents. Why are they segregating?
aunursa (2aca7b) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:02 amSelf-segregation is okay. Identity politics, and all.
JD (8e9826) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:04 amWhat, were Danny Glover and Ed Asner too busy to make the trip? Just two among the many excreable celebritards to lend their names in support of the poor and oppressed Castro regime. Still waiting for Spicoli to lend his name to the heroic cause.
Dmac (49b16c) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:15 amIs there a Congressional White Caucus?
Old Coot (27af0c) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:32 amAs a man Castro would make a thousand empty suits like Juggy, but as a significant leader he is nothing more than a nuisance. The best way to improve Cuban-American relations would be if he were to die.
nk (fb872a) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:43 amThe biological solution.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:46 amI agree, but the US has been waiting for the guy to die for about 20 years at this point, proving once again that tyrants and dictators usually live well into old age.
Dmac (49b16c) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:51 amBrother Bradley and nk – Why do you insist on threatening the life of peace-lovin’ freedom-promoting Fidel?
JD (8e9826) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:51 amI wonder what they said, back when, about Castro’s concentration camps for HIV positive people? You know the one where the NY Times offered this exercise in irony: “Cuba’s H.I.V. Quarantine Takes Toll in Liberty”.
Kevin Murphy (805c5b) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:55 amI feel sorry for the Cuban people. I grew up with Cuban kids — we would do our homework together. They are the Jews of the New World because of Castro.
nk (fb872a) — 4/8/2009 @ 8:01 amJD,
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 4/8/2009 @ 8:01 amCan’t help it; I’m just one of those deranged ultra-conservatives who people like ASPCA say populate this place.
Ah the beautiful Barbara Lee. I’ve got a sister in law who’s lived in Berkeley for nigh on 50 years now–with all that such a residence will do to your head. She described her Congress Critter Barbara Lee as “the only Congressman with the balls to vote against the Iraq War“. Seems that Ms. Lee remains as mixed up as ever. Did she look in Fidel’s eyes (ala Dubya looking at Putin) and say “There’s a man I can trust.”?
Mike Myers (674050) — 4/8/2009 @ 8:12 amI’m just waiting for some guy named smoot to get elected to congress.
Comment by joe
We don’t need Smoot. The Democrats are perfectly capable of wrecking our trade without him.
My daughter, who is a lefty and fluent in Spanish, visited Cuba about five years ago. She was excited at first but quickly figured out what was going on by talking to ordinary people, something those Congress critters will never do.
Mike K (90939b) — 4/8/2009 @ 8:34 amIs there a Congressional White Caucus?
Now now, Old Coot. The idea that we whites should organize to protect and further our political interests is streng verboten by the neocons and libertarians who populate this blog. We whiteys just have to be nice, color blind, forgo identity politics. Then the Cong. Black Caucus. , La Raza, Asian-American muckymucks … all these groups will play nice and stop demanding affirmative action and/or more immigration of their own kith and kin.
horace (411ef0) — 4/8/2009 @ 8:52 amAh, the antisemite returns.
SPQR (72771e) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:01 amAh, c’mon SPQR. I passed up that nice, fat, Cubans are the Jews of the New World comment!
horace (411ef0) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:08 amI find horace’s views generally offensive.
JD (8e9826) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:23 amI find horace offensive.
SPQR (72771e) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:31 amBetter Half wants to know what an Asian-American muckymuck is.
JD (8e9826) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:36 amJust goes to prove my point, JD. Blacks can and do organize as a group to promote what they see are their interests, Asians can too — Mike Honda, San Jose Congressman and chairman of the Asian-Pacific Congress was also on this trip, don’t know it he was made an honorary soul bro’ for the occasion. Somehow whites organizing as whites, however, is ‘offensive’. No argument, just beyond the pale — so to speak.
horace (411ef0) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:38 amAh, c’mon SPQR. I passed up that nice, fat, Cubans are the Jews of the New World comment!
Comment by horace — 4/8/2009 @ 9:08 am
Too bad the mongrel dog who was your father did not pass up the drunken derelict in the gutter who was your mother.
nk (fb872a) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:40 amFrom the every useful Urban Dictionary.
Mucky Muck …
A high ranking official. Can be governmental or corporate.
e.g.
Someone who has sway at an institution.
He’s a mucky muck over at the power company now.
Here’s the Asian part
horace (411ef0) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:41 amhttp://honda.house.gov/capac/
Yeah yeah, nk. You’re father was a hamster and your mother smelled of elderberries. We’ve all seen the Python movies, changing the nouns doesn’t make it original. And what’s with the Palin softporn at your blog. Shame on you!
horace (411ef0) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:44 amSo, basically, you are a racist anti-Semitic bigot?
JD (8e9826) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:45 amAlready established, actually.
SPQR (72771e) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:48 amWe’ve all seen the Python movies, changing the nouns doesn’t make it original.
Actually, it’s from a Donald Hamilton novel. Matt Helm tells that to a Nazi before he minces him with a machete.
nk (fb872a) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:52 amYou’d have to unpack the meaning of ‘racist’ for me JD. Is Mike ‘chairman of the Asian-Pacific Congressional Congress’ Honda ‘racist’ for promoting his race’s interests? Is Barbara Lee a ‘bigot’ for doing the same? Or is it only white folks who say, gee, maybe we ought to organize too? Alternatively, is there any indication the ‘respectable conservative’ view — colorblindness, ending affirmative action etc — has made any impact?
BTW, if you really want ‘racism’, pick up one T. Jefferson’s ‘Notes on the State of Virginia’.
horace (411ef0) — 4/8/2009 @ 9:59 amNo need to “unpack” anything, horace. Your chosen words speak quite clearly.
JD (8e9826) — 4/8/2009 @ 10:05 amAnswer the questions JD. Honda, Lee, racist? Or not? Double standard? If not, why not? I’m bored with the name calling.
horace (411ef0) — 4/8/2009 @ 10:11 amMy previous foray into the leftosphere:
John Hitchcock (fb941d) — 4/8/2009 @ 10:18 amPeople can read your history of bigoted statements and draw their own conclusions.
JD (8e9826) — 4/8/2009 @ 10:19 amJohn H – They are tolerant of their own intolerance.
JD (8e9826) — 4/8/2009 @ 10:22 amBarbara Lee was not the only member of the House (in 2002) to vote against the Iraq War, but she was the only House member (in 2001) to vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists.
And she does not have balls.
Official Internet Data Office (47bf25) — 4/8/2009 @ 10:39 amClearly, she sides with the terrorists.
Michael Ejercito (7c44bf) — 4/8/2009 @ 10:46 amFit and energetic? More like Weekend at Bernie’s.
Spot on observation:
carlitos (eb5259) — 4/8/2009 @ 11:11 amMy only comment is “barf”.
jwarner (0a2a75) — 4/8/2009 @ 12:07 pmCong. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach CA) was remarkable in that she was in foreclosure on three homes she owns in CA.
AD - RtR/OS (4f0edf) — 4/8/2009 @ 1:23 pmI can see why she admires Fidel:
He stole an entire country;
She just milked the sub-prime system for a half-Mil or $o.
Clearly, she sides with the terrorists.
Well, she is the political heir to Ron “Red” Dellums.
AD - RtR/OS (4f0edf) — 4/8/2009 @ 1:24 pmI have never understood why Democrats flock to murdering thug Dictators … Anybody have a clue? I have a friend who fled Cuba, as a child, his parents were murdered … It is a disgrace to call these people Congressmen.
bill-tb (26027c) — 4/8/2009 @ 4:10 pm“I have never understood why Democrats flock to murdering thug Dictators”
Hey, they love Hugo Chavez too. Go figure. In the 1980s if you were a big lib you almost couldn’t show up at the right cocktail parties unless you had an agrarian reformer (read bloodthirsty commie pig) in tow.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 4/8/2009 @ 4:28 pmIt’s always jarring to be so bluntly reminded of how similar to one another the left and adolescent girls are – they both can romanticize absolutely anything.
Dana (d08a3a) — 4/8/2009 @ 5:13 pmThis is what happens when you allow your emotions to be ascendant over critical thinking.
AD - RtR/OS (4f0edf) — 4/8/2009 @ 5:30 pmI find that remark offensive and unhelpful. I wish bad things to statists of all stripes – Republican, Democrat, liberal or conservative. A pox on all their houses.
Horatio (55069c) — 4/8/2009 @ 6:41 pmBarack is a Democratic Party politician. Like all capitalist politicians he will act in the best interests of the richest imperialist families here in the U.S.. Think about it: why do capitalists LOVE China but hate the Cuban people? And don’t give me that crap about hating only the leadership of the revolution, they hate the people because Cubans know what’s going on in their own country and the resr of the world. THEY are the ones who balk at profitering from their labor with nothing left in their country for developement-unlike China!
Linemechanic (cbbf88) — 4/8/2009 @ 6:55 pmCan anyone decipher what linemechanic scribbled?
John Hitchcock (fb941d) — 4/8/2009 @ 6:58 pmThe Chinese Stalinists are shaking in their boots because they have no idea what to do with 50,000,000 unemployed workers–the legacy of going down ‘the capitalist road’. As far as the lies about Cubans living on less than a dollar a day and Michael Moore’s excellent film. “SICKO”, being ‘debunked’—what crap. It was an accurate, albeit polemical, film about the contrast in social priorities between capitalist/post-capitalist societies. That’s why YOUR government won’t let YOU travel there. Think you’re free? Try useful idiot.
Linemechanic (cbbf88) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:05 pmYour pretentions to confusion are predictable but not very original.
Linemechanic (cbbf88) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:08 pmAD – RtR/OS @ 4/8/2009 @ 5:30 pm
You’re absolutely right. However, it’s somehow an expected age appropriate behavior from the adolescent girl whose critical thinking skills are (hopefully) in formation – from the leftwing adults, not so much.
Ultimately the five-day trip explains why the Gulf is so freaking crowded with people from the various Americas d-e-s-p-e-r-a-t-e-l-y trying to get into Cuba. You know, because it’s really just a cool beach paradise… like Margaritaville.
Dana (d08a3a) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:18 pmWhites in the US better unit. We have enemies even in our own congress. These are the worst racist America has ever seen. They would do anything to hurt us. But then they would have No teachers police or military. Have you ever seen a black volunter fire dept. Look at all the country’s in Africa run by blacks
jim (f4bd0b) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:24 pmRichardson was probably just buttering him up to get a loan.
Deadbeat
Patricia (2183bb) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:54 pmMembers of the Congressional Black Caucus
Their label or designation really should be “leftwing loonies” as much as, or more than, “black.” That political tilt is a major affliction evident in a high percentage of black America, which is a big reason various forms of dysfunction have been so difficult to ameliorate, much less wipe out completely, from that portion of society.
I have never understood why Democrats flock to murdering thug Dictators … Anybody have a clue?
For the same reason they tend to be idiots about crime and punishment. So due to their twisted, corrupted and distorted sense of compassion, they weep over the background and life history of a cold-blooded murderer while showing less empathy and sympathy for his victim or victims. In the same vein, they’re more bothered by the existence and application of the death penalty than the horrors inflicted on innocent lives by ruthless thugs.
Quite pathetic when such people see themselves as so caring and humane, and their political opposites as anything but.
Mark (411533) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:54 pmWrite another comment Linemechanic. You’re funny!
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 4/8/2009 @ 7:54 pmCuba, you should apologize to us for choosing communism.
Dreadnaught (42394a) — 4/8/2009 @ 8:23 pmComment by Dana — 4/8/2009 @ 7:18 pm
AD - RtR/OS (4f0edf) — 4/8/2009 @ 10:08 pmProgressivism is nothing but a permanent state of adolescence…
Emotionalism, and looking for Daddy to fix things.
Ahhh the incoherent spittle flecked liberal – it never gets old……..
EricPWJohnson (d7aaff) — 4/8/2009 @ 11:14 pmSounds like typical Democrats. The Dems launch a sneak attack against the Cuban commies (Bay of Pigs), institute a totally illegal blockade on Cuba (Missile crisis), almost touching off an all out nuclear war, slap an embargo on Cuba that continues to this day…and now they’re complaining about U.S. policy towards Cubs as if it was somebody else’s fault.
Dave Surls (0bb5b9) — 4/9/2009 @ 12:59 am‘Castro “looked directly into our eyes” and asked how Cuba could help President Obama in his efforts to change the course of U.S. foreign policy.’
That’s easy enough. The trouble between Cuba and the United States started when the Cuban communists stole property owned by American citizens. Pay for what you stole, plus fat damages and we’ll talk about normalizing relations.
Until then…you can kiss my red white and blue American ass, and Cuba can continue to enjoy the abject poverty the commie revolution and the American embargo has brought to what used to be one of the most prosperous nations in Latin America.
Dave Surls (0bb5b9) — 4/9/2009 @ 1:17 amIt was a different Democratic party then, the Bay of Pigs, was just a larger version of US coldwar policy from the 40s, infiltrations in Southern Russia, Albania (which were leaked by Philby) Indonesia, Tibet, Southern China; they didn’t work but that doesn’t mean they were any different. One doubts that the blockade was illegal in anyway, and the embargo, in what remains of it, is much weaker than the sanctions regime imposed against South Africa, the Arabs against Israel, or even that employed against Iraq, last decade.
narciso (996c34) — 4/9/2009 @ 6:02 am“One doubts that the blockade was illegal in anyway”
You can doubt as much as you please, but it was a flagrant violation of Article 2 of the U.N. Charter.
And, there ain’t no if, ands or buts about it.
Dave Surls (16b4a7) — 4/9/2009 @ 7:42 amSo, if the U.N. wishes to enforce their Charter, all they have to do is send their army.
AD - RtR/OS (da3c7c) — 4/9/2009 @ 10:02 amLooks like the congressional junket drank the Kool-Aid.
Let’s hope it was made with the local water.
Gesundheit (47b0b8) — 4/9/2009 @ 11:25 amThey obviously weren’t paying attention the last time a prominent US politician gazed into the eyes of a ruthless tyrant.
mb (6a9611) — 4/9/2009 @ 7:15 pmCuba is not poor because of the US embargo.
Urban legend.
Cuba is poor because the Communist system does not work.
Jimminy'cricket (637168) — 4/9/2009 @ 8:32 pm#58, are you serious?
I think a trip to Miami to meet a few refugees is in order.
Jimminy'cricket (637168) — 4/9/2009 @ 8:34 pmWhen the United States slapped the embargo on Cuba they lost about 2/3 of their foreign trade in the blink of an eye…and if you don’t think that hurt their economy big time, you’re living in a world of dreams.
Dave Surls (893845) — 4/10/2009 @ 1:24 amDave Surls,
The embargo was started in 1960. Cuba can trade with anyone else in the world. It is 2009.
Are you ignorant enough to believe, that in 50 years the marxist/socialist delite of Cuba has not been able to figure out how to replace its historical trade relationships in the US with lets say Mexico, Brazil or Europe?
They have so much great education and health AND FIFTY years!
As I said, Cuba is poor not because of the embargo but because of their Gov.t. The point you are making is not only a misdirection but it is wrong.
It is clear you are an apologist for a leftist dictatorship who has used “the embargo” as an excuse for impoverishing an entire island and making each person a slave to the government.
Social and economic justice indeed. Now all Cubans are whores for money and their Gov.t the John.
But more importantly your asinine and ignorant position is emblematic of the clueless left and , some clueless, right who have never traveled the world, read very little, and wallow in the certainty that your beliefs are right regardless of the long term results.
Jimminy'cricket (637168) — 4/10/2009 @ 5:04 amThe Cuban Health system, btw, is among the worst in the world.
Only senior gov.t official get good health care, the rest are told to piss off.
Jimminy'cricket (637168) — 4/10/2009 @ 5:06 am“The embargo was started in 1960. Cuba can trade with anyone else in the world.”
No, actually the full economic embargo began in 1962, we had an arms embargo from 1958, trade restrictions (in response to the communist theft of American assets in Cuba) from 1960 and a full on embargo from 1962…and no, they couldn’t trade with anyone in the world. The OAS also instituted a trade embargo against Cuba in 1964 (with Mexico refusing to comply), which ran until 1975. Also, the United States amended our Foreign Assistance Act in 1962 so that any country who traded with Cuba was subject to having all foreign aid suspended. And, the United States had, and used other tricks to make it tough for other countries to engage in trade with Cuba. So, no, I’m afraid that Cuba couldn’t trade with anyone in the world.
“Are you ignorant…?”
Hardly.
“It is clear you are an apologist for a leftist dictatorship…”
LOL. That’ll be the day.
As for the effects of our trade sanctions, and subsequent embargo here’s one assessment…
“The U.S. trade embargo after 1961 had jolting effects. By the early 1960s, conditions in many industries had become critical due to the lack of replacement parts. Virtually all industrial structures were dependent on supplies and parts now denied to Cuba. Many plants were paralyzed. Havoc followed. Transportation was especially hard hit: the ministry was reporting more than seven thousand breakdowns a month. Nearly one-quarter of all buses were inoperable by the end of 1961. One-half of the 1,400 passenger rail cars were out of service in 1962. Almost three-quarters of the caterpillar tractors stood idle due to a lack of replacement parts.”– Cuba, between Reform and Revolution, Louis A. Pérez, Jr.
Like I said, pal, you don’t lose 2/3 of your foreign trade and not have it effect your economy.
Dave Surls (0daadb) — 4/10/2009 @ 8:38 amOne problem Dave, for 30-years, Cuba was propped-up by the “other Great Power”. Why weren’t all of these problems corrected by that great industrial planners at GOSPROM?
AD - RtR/OS (f5b734) — 4/10/2009 @ 10:05 amCould it be that the Cuban Economy drifts along in the depths of its’ own despair due to the fact that the most enterprising of its’ citizens have long since left the country, either willingly or through coercion or execution?
And, that the usual Marxist cadres are just out of their depth when it comes to doing something other than the usual thuggish activities that they excell at, like using their brains for economically productive management?
#81
True story. Without those Russian subsidies, the embargo plus their idiotic state managed economy probably would have put them back to the dark ages.
Dave Surls (0daadb) — 4/10/2009 @ 11:19 am