Castro is done!

Jstas

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hTsG2pDFZnSqzgFf5HW0eNihxYFQ

Castro isn't going for re-election and said he would decline and refuse any nomination put forth on February 24th which is the day that Cuba's National Assembly was going to vote on another 5 year mandate for Castro as President.

This will be a very interesting development. I have no doubt that the successor will be Raul but I'm hoping it isn't. Cuba has long been suffering due to economic embargoes and the stubbornness of Fidel. Raul is only going to continue that.

TroyD

Ahhh...the wonder of Communism.



BDT

Polk user

“Very selfless and moral. One of the world’s wisest men.” –Oliver Stone.

“Cuba’s Elvis.” –Dan Rather.

“Castro is at the same time the island, the men, the cattle, and the earth. He is the whole island.” –Jean Paul-Sartre.

“A dream come true!” –Naomi Campbell.

“If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro!” –Harry Belafonte.

“A genius.” –Jack Nicholson.

“Fidel, I love you. We both have beards. We both have power and want to use it for good purposes.” –Francis Ford Coppola.

“The first and greatest hero to appear in the world since the Second World War.” –Norman Mailer.

“Socialism works. I think Cuba might prove that.” –Chevy Chase.

“Castro is an extraordinary man. He is warm and understanding and seems extremely humane.” –Gina Lollobrigida.

TroyD

It's too bad that they all didn't move there.

I wonder why.

BDT

Jstas

TroyD wrote: »

It's too bad that they all didn't move there.

I wonder why.

BDT

Because people are scrambling to leave in such a rush that they will do anything to paddle their way to the coast of Florida. But Fidel is so freaking spectacular! I wonder how much he paid all of them to say that stuff?

AsSiMiLaTeD

Isn't his brother or someone just going to take his place? Is this really going to change anything? I read somewhere that his brother or cousin is more of an **** than he is.

bobman1235

Yeah, exactly. Go hang out in South Florida and ask them how they like Castro.

Jstas

Polkmaniac wrote: »

Isn't his brother or someone just going to take his place? Is this really going to change anything? I read somewhere that his brother or cousin is more of an **** than he is.

His brother most likely will be the next prez. They have to have an "election" :rolleyes: But if you read the article, Bush said that there will be no change in policy at this time. The only way there will be any change in policies towards Cuba is if they make steps towards a democracy. Or at least free elections.

venomclan

So Fidel and HD-DVD both throw in the towel on the same day, coincidence, I think not. Do some digging, it was Fidel that invented the HD-DVD format. He encoded subliminal messages on the disks at the menu screen.
Sony to the rescue.
Venom

AsSiMiLaTeD

LOL...

Instead Sony just encodes sublimenal executable programs into their CDs and has that same ability with Blu Ray...

Polk user

TroyD wrote: »

It's too bad that they all didn't move there.

I wonder why.

BDT

Because if any of those left wing lunatic losers moved there they would have to fall in line, give up there fame and fortune and live under the tyrant they love so much....and how much fun would that be?????? Remember, they don't really believe what they say, they just say it because they hate this country, but they'll take our money.

aaharvel

49 years.. sure took long enough

Jstas

It ain't over yet. His brother is just as bad if not worse.

What is really a shame is that Cuba is a beautiful country with wonderful and proud people rich in heritage and history. The country is just flat out gorgeous and Cuba has so much to offer this country and vice versa and neither side can get past the hang ups. Granted, they are pretty big ones and Castro was a **** to his own people. It's just a sad situation is all.

mule

What do you think Fidel did with his time?

Reagan liked to ride horses.

Clinton like cigars and bj's.

Bush likes to do coke and listen to zz-top

So what do you think Fidel liked to do? He allways looked so serious I could never picture him hanging out with friends fishing or playing golf. And that hat, did he ever take it off? Do you think he had aluminum foil in the hat to keep the aliens from looking in there?

Jstas

mule wrote: »

What do you think Fidel did with his time?

Reagan liked to ride horses.

Clinton like cigars and bj's.

Bush likes to do coke and listen to zz-top

So what do you think Fidel liked to do? He allways looked so serious I could never picture him hanging out with friends fishing or playing golf. And that hat, did he ever take it off? Do you think he had aluminum foil in the hat to keep the aliens from looking in there?

He probably enjoyed Peasant Shooting.

jdhdiggs

Jstas wrote: »

He probably enjoyed Peasant Shooting.

Now that's pretty damn punny right there! Sick and twisted, but funny...

He and Che riding around on a motorcycle and boxcar shooting peasents....

Polk user

Jstas wrote: »

He probably enjoyed Peasant Shooting.

Jstas,

The proper spelling is Pheasant. No one in their right mind would shoot peasants.

Oh, wait, NEVERMIND.

jakelm

venomclan wrote: »

So Fidel and HD-DVD both throw in the towel on the same day, coincidence, I think not. Do some digging, it was Fidel that invented the HD-DVD format. He encoded subliminal messages on the disks at the menu screen.
Sony to the rescue.
Venom

Fidel was backed by Toshiba.


Cuba will never change. The "elections" they hold??? Give me a break...:rolleyes:

Trading one Castro for another younger one. This news should fade away in a day or 2.

Early B.

Regardless of one's own personal political beliefs, you gotta respect the man. He'll go down in history as a great leader. Hell, after half a century of leadership, not even the mighty American government could oust him, despite numerous attempts.

Jstas

He's not a great leader, never has been. Do some reading on Castro. A tyrant like say, Milosevic or Hussein? Maybe not but he hasn't been your average Cuban's best friend either. He's a militant extremist that over-ran the previous government and under dubious circumstances at best. His country has been in perpetual economic ruin since the Russians stopped funneling money into his country. But hey, when you sell your soul to the devil like that, what do you think would happen? He purposely keeps it that way through his allegiance to out-dated and irrational ideals. But if the people are poor, they will not be able to rise up against him. If they do, he will squash the rebellion. So instead they all run away. Castro is not a great leader. He's a small minded man with a silver tongue who rules with an iron fist shrouded in daisies, puppy dogs and lollipops so the disenfranchised bourgeoisie of Cuba doesn't know what to think. Then the mindless drones like all those quoted Hollywood types think that Cuba isn't as bad as Bush and his rowdy band of baddies make it seem and that it's a great place to be. I wish I was a car salesman that lacked scruples. If it's that easy to snow those yahoos, I'd be making millions off of taking advantage of their naivety.

aaharvel

Not only did Castro not deliver on the promise of freedom soon after his 1960's military occupation of Cuba (irony), but it took him less than a decade later to totally eradicate any signs of individual liberties. That was almost four decades ago and nothing's changed since.

Early B.

Jstas wrote: »

He's not a great leader, never has been. Do some reading on Castro. A tyrant like say, Milosevic or Hussein? Maybe not but he hasn't been your average Cuban's best friend either. He's a militant extremist that over-ran the previous government and under dubious circumstances at best. His country has been in perpetual economic ruin since the Russians stopped funneling money into his country. But hey, when you sell your soul to the devil like that, what do you think would happen? He purposely keeps it that way through his allegiance to out-dated and irrational ideals. But if the people are poor, they will not be able to rise up against him. If they do, he will squash the rebellion. So instead they all run away. Castro is not a great leader. He's a small minded man with a silver tongue who rules with an iron fist shrouded in daisies, puppy dogs and lollipops so the disenfranchised bourgeoisie of Cuba doesn't know what to think. Then the mindless drones like all those quoted Hollywood types think that Cuba isn't as bad as Bush and his rowdy band of baddies make it seem and that it's a great place to be. I wish I was a car salesman that lacked scruples. If it's that easy to snow those yahoos, I'd be making millions off of taking advantage of their naivety.

Jstas, I'm posting this one to add some balance to your negative opinion of Castro with actual facts. Cuba has a highly regarded health system that Castro instituted. Of course, the health of the people is a good indicator of the "health" of the nation.

For instance, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report from 2005, the chance of a Cuban child dying at five years of age or younger is 7 per 1000 (it's 8 per 1000 in the US). Cuba's life expectancy is esentially the same as the US's for both males and females. In addition, Cuba's infant mortality rate is better than the US with 5 deaths per thousand in Cuba versus 7 per thousand in the US. Moreover, Cuba has nearly twice as many physicians as the U.S. -- 5.91 doctors per thousand people compared to 2.56 doctors per thousand.

Now, I'm not defending Cuba or Castro because it appears that I probably know as little as you do about the subject. I just wanted to add something positive. That's all.

tonyb

And according to MAD magazine.......
Give us a break......

jakelm

A socialist communist country,
Something good about the leader? Hmmmmmmmmm,,,,

A doctor wont help you if you get shot in the head for disagreeing with the government.

Jstas

Early B. wrote: »

Jstas, I'm posting this one to add some balance to your negative opinion of Castro with actual facts. Cuba has a highly regarded health system that Castro instituted. Of course, the health of the people is a good indicator of the "health" of the nation.

For instance, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report from 2005, the chance of a Cuban child dying at five years of age or younger is 7 per 1000 (it's 8 per 1000 in the US). Cuba's life expectancy is esentially the same as the US's for both males and females. In addition, Cuba's infant mortality rate is better than the US with 5 deaths per thousand in Cuba versus 7 per thousand in the US. Moreover, Cuba has nearly twice as many physicians as the U.S. -- 5.91 doctors per thousand people compared to 2.56 doctors per thousand.

Now, I'm not defending Cuba or Castro because it appears that I probably know as little as you do about the subject. I just wanted to add something positive. That's all.

I'm not going to get into an argument over this. If you want to believe that that lying sack of crap is "responsible" for such crap as the tripe the WHO puts out then fine. But the WHO's numbers are not independently verified and only go on what countries report. If you think for even one instant that any country is being 100% honest about those numbers, you are sadly mistaken. Cuba has a health care system but go an ask the Cubans in south Florida about Castro's "health care".

The people can't even afford to drive modern cars. The country has no income except for the economic relief that Europe pumps in to it as a "humanitarian effort". If they have any decent level of health care for the average joe it's because of the humanitarian efforts.

I swear, the deeper you look into Cuba, the more it looks like the book "Animal Farm".

Castro is not a great leader by any stretch of the imagination. He's a tyrannical dictator with a gift for propaganda. His brother is no where near as well spoken. If...well, more like when he comes to power, you will start to see many more cracks in the rosy Cuban exterior that Fidel has purported for 5 decades. Then everyone who thinks Fidel was so awesome will see how wrong they were. Then they will get angry and say it's Raul's fault 'cause Fidel would never do that to his people but his angry, militaristic brother would.

It's bogus bunk and I would trust our own CDC's numbers on Cuba or any other country for that matter over anything the WHO publishes.

Demiurge

Early B. wrote: »

Jstas, I'm posting this one to add some balance to your negative opinion of Castro with actual facts. Cuba has a highly regarded health system that Castro instituted. Of course, the health of the people is a good indicator of the "health" of the nation.

For instance, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report from 2005, the chance of a Cuban child dying at five years of age or younger is 7 per 1000 (it's 8 per 1000 in the US). Cuba's life expectancy is esentially the same as the US's for both males and females. In addition, Cuba's infant mortality rate is better than the US with 5 deaths per thousand in Cuba versus 7 per thousand in the US. Moreover, Cuba has nearly twice as many physicians as the U.S. -- 5.91 doctors per thousand people compared to 2.56 doctors per thousand.

Now, I'm not defending Cuba or Castro because it appears that I probably know as little as you do about the subject. I just wanted to add something positive. That's all.

Okay, Michael Moore.

jakelm

Viva La Cubaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!



















...I say nuke 'em...

Early B.

Jstas wrote: »

But the WHO's numbers are not independently verified and only go on what countries report.

Can you substantiate this statement?

Well, let me ask this question in a different way -- can you direct me to a more credible international source for health indicators among countries?

If not WHO, then who?:D

jakelm

Early B. wrote: »

If not WHO, then who?:D

The Who, great band, I think they went to Cuba..

NotaSuv

Jstas wrote: »

He's not a great leader, never has been. Do some reading on Castro. A tyrant like say, Milosevic or Hussein? Maybe not but he hasn't been your average Cuban's best friend either. He's a militant extremist that over-ran the previous government and under dubious circumstances at best. His country has been in perpetual economic ruin since the Russians stopped funneling money into his country. But hey, when you sell your soul to the devil like that, what do you think would happen? He purposely keeps it that way through his allegiance to out-dated and irrational ideals. But if the people are poor, they will not be able to rise up against him. If they do, he will squash the rebellion. So instead they all run away. Castro is not a great leader. He's a small minded man with a silver tongue who rules with an iron fist shrouded in daisies, puppy dogs and lollipops so the disenfranchised bourgeoisie of Cuba doesn't know what to think. Then the mindless drones like all those quoted Hollywood types think that Cuba isn't as bad as Bush and his rowdy band of baddies make it seem and that it's a great place to be. I wish I was a car salesman that lacked scruples. If it's that easy to snow those yahoos, I'd be making millions off of taking advantage of their naivety.

WOW you are so full of chit.........after living in South Florida for years I got sick of the same BS..I see you read the flyers passed out in the streets of Little Havana.....

Was Castro the first communist ruler in Cuba?
Tell me about Cubas history prior to Castro.how about Piro??

Tell us about their public health system which is heads and shoulders above anything here.....

Were you at Muriel??? I was.....78 and made a 5 years pay in a few days...gotta love that Carter...and the fact that castro did indeed clean out his jails and hospitals for the insane....you bet he shipped them off his island..I was payed mostly by gov officals for each body i took...smart move you bet it was..pissed us off that much more

Tell me the difference between those who flee a MUCH MUCH worse country like Haiti and those that come from Cuba??

when was the last time a peasant was shoot in Cuba..still happens daily in Haiti....

“We see about three gunshot victims a day. There are gunshot wounds that would kill someone eventually, but more slowly — maybe their bowel or liver is perforated and there is slow bleeding — where if you operate, you can actually do something to stop them from dying.” quoted from MSF Dr



Tell me why one is allowed and one is deported???

Do you really think the Cuban goverment is worse than the one ruling Haiti

Tell us about the Doc's from Haiti....

I have spent time in both countries...I would choose Cuba in a split second...When we docked in Haiti I wouldnt even leave the boat...10 trips to Cuba and everyone one of great....a beautiful country ..yes in every country there are those with different beliefs....

Look at Russia you really think the poorer classes were happy with what WE wanted for them.....yuppers now they are like us...organized crime rules the rich became super rich and the poor and mddle classes lost housing ,,food and medical care..

Castro was a great ruler...lives lost..oh well...it happens....tell me how many were killed for Castro...and tell me how many Americans have lost lives in Irag fighting for??? well depends upon who you talk to.

We can go and on ..Vietnam.......a victory...certainly not

How about the invasion of Granda...yeah now that a class act there
100 lives lost for what??

Castro had this very very well planned.and his son will continue...yeah it is a thorn in our side so close but untouchable......1962 Castro had much bigger balls than we did......piss off the US you bet......

Tell me why as big and mighty as we are we could not overthrow such a small little island...yet we have a military base there huh......

ok rant over............and please none of those if you love it so much live there....a easy coverall answer...I am only agreeing with Chevy..it works in some places......

NotaSuv

jakelm wrote: »

Viva La Cubaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

...I say nuke 'em...

hhhhhhhhhmmmmmmm winds would blow deadly fallout over south florida and both anti and pro castro sides would perish

yes problem solved:)

Ben get those beautiful speakers packed up and head North