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Once again, Damon...
You appear to be on the wrong side of an issue. But first, let me clarify the t-shirt matter. I will not profit from any sale, although I wouldn't mind doing so. I just am aware that the shirts have been produced, and know that they will shortly be available. (No connection to that article – pure coincidence.)
The article (which I DID NOT WRITE) was not about Christianity in Cuba, but about a brutal terrorist who has been deified by the Left, and how Target Stores "goofed."
Nevertheless, I want to address indirectly several of your comments. My former spouse (who is a patent attorney with a PhD in Biochemistry) was raised in Argentina in a secular Jewish family that was very active in the local Communist Party. At this stage of her life, she no longer believes that Communism (or even Socialism) is man's "last best hope." She has two daughters, one a physician, and the other an attorney. During my marriage to this lady, I got to know both daughters fairly well. Both reflected their mother's leftish views, but the attorney (the older of the two) was more militantly on the Left. In fact, she was so enamored with Socialism, that she planned a trip to Cube to view for herself, first-hand, this "worker's paradise."
Following that trip, I had occasion to have dinner with her, one-on-one. She told me that nothing was as she had believed. The so-called "worker's paradise" was actually a two-tier economy, one fueled by virtual slaves in bondage to the government, and one occupied by the Party elite and their European friends, living in the lap of luxury. She told of obvious, in-your-face religious persecution, children removed from parental control at a young age, and raised under strict government control, indoctrinated with hate for America, for religion, for democracy, and inculcated with a Nazi-youth-like zeal toward the state, against their own families.
She told me that when she finally returned to the States after her thirty-day stay, she kissed the ground, and gave up her leftist attitude – in her words: in the light of reality.
Damon, I cannot personally speak from experience in Cuba, but I have known a number of people either from there, or like my ex-wife's daughter, who confirm that things in Cuba are vastly different in reality than you guys on the left believe. Over time, you and I have developed a somewhat respectful working relationship. I respect that, and ask you to reexamine your own perspective on Cuba and what it represents. Consider your view in light of the things Gorbachev has written since the fall of the Soviet Union, or Chevchenko before him, or even Khrushchev in his memoirs smuggled out of the Soviet Union after his "retirement."
Our world, yours and mine, has room for you and me, but not for Castro, Che Guevara, Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Hitler...I'm sure you get the point. Decent men can differ on how to view a problem, how to solve a problem, and even on what caused a problem, but they should never turn to violence and coercion in order to prevail. (Note that responding to violence with violence is always appropriate.) So long as you and I agree unequivocally on this, we can continue to coexist, discuss, and even prosper.
Have a Happy New Year!
posted by
arGee
on December 29, 2006 at 8:25 PM
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Good to See...
...that you're as willing to profit from the Che myth as Target!!
But on to this article...
"He is also a symbol of the totalitarian regime that persists in Cuba, which still practices his ideology of intolerance, hatred and repression."
Being an American, this guy presumably has never been to Cuba. He certainly isn't describing the Cuba that exists today.
"Christians, who celebrate the birth of their Savior on Monday"
Ah, yes - speaking of myths! The best evidence suggests Christ was born in March. Christmas in December is actually another pagan festival usurped by the Christians. It originally celebrates the re-birth of the sun-god Mythras, around the time of the winter solstice. The 'Saviour' is a very modern invention here, relatively speaking.
"His victims could be heard at dawn loudly crying "Long live Christ the King, down with communism," just before the rifle shots rang out."
I'm sure that's entirely historically accurate 
"a life in which Christianity has been forbidden"
He clearly doesn't know that 44% of Cubans are Christians and, though persecution has taken place, things they are a-changin', as you can see here. A couple of paragraphs to save you clicking...
The evangelical Christian church in Cuba has learned to survive -- even thrive -- in the face of adversity. Despite restrictions on worship, evangelism and Christian education, the evangelical Cuban church sustains one of the highest growth rates in Latin America, a continent that is experiencing rapid evangelical growth nearly everywhere.
Church leaders say that, since Pope John Paul II visited the island in 1998, the Castro regime has demonstrated more tolerance toward Christians. For example, no pastors are currently imprisoned for alleged political crimes. House churches are able to operate openly, without fear of sudden closure. Congregations with legally registered properties have secured building permits to remodel aging sanctuaries or erect new ones, sometimes using government contractors to do so.
"children are the property of the state, thought is policed and spying on your neighbor is one of the few ways to earn a living."
That's not uniformed, ignorant rhetoric at all, is it?
What's all this "the raggedly dressed and malnourished"??? Economic growth was 8% in 2005 (3.2% in the US), unemployment is just 1.9% (5.1% in the US). Incidentally, literacy in Cuba is up at 97% (99% in the US), HIV around 0.1% of the population (0.6% in the US), life expectancy at 77 years (same as the US).
"...he has been beaten, tortured and locked in tiny windowless cells for days on end. Hundreds of other prisoners of conscience are in jail, under atrocious conditions; many are also devout Christians."
Is this in Guantanamo Bay? Or Abu Ghraib? Or is Bush simply taking the lessons of his old adversary and applying them in his own ways?
"The moral of the story seems to be that even the all-powerful regime cannot stop Christmas from coming to Cuba."
No - the moral of the story is, do you friggin' research, and perhaps even GO to the country before you write about it!
D
posted by
DamonLeigh
on December 29, 2006 at 5:52 AM
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Thanks, Afzal...
A delightful t-shirt displaying Che Guevara's likeness superimposed with the cross hairs of a sniper's rifle will be available shortly at
The Dead Hand. As soon as it is available, I will post an announcement here on Blogit.
posted by
arGee
on December 28, 2006 at 10:15 AM
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Excellent post .Very informative in its contents.
posted by
afzal50
on December 28, 2006 at 9:29 AM
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