The 'big guy with the beard' as Ronald Reagan used to call him because he couldn't remember whether his name was Nicaragua, El Salvador or Castro has decided to put his feet up, in Scotland he would of course be 'the big yin' as in " sake man it's the big yin awright Fidel "
I mean of course Ele Commandante Fidel Castro, scourge of America and no fewer than 10 of it's wretched presidents, those who are still alive can still be heard muttering "why me, why me, why did my years in office have to be overshadowed by this giant of history, why oh why me" ?
He survived hundreds of attempts on his life by the CIA known around the world as the 'keystone cops' he defied the world's greatest ever super power and continues to ridicule them.
He kicked out the American crooks and corrupt politicians who used Cuba as a playground where every perversion known to man could be found while the ordinary Cuban lived a life of ignorance and poverty, the American Quisling Batista fell and Fidel and the rebels triumphed, the rest as they say is history and glorious history at that.
What other word can you use but glorious to describe a poor third world country of 11 million souls who defied the American bully and in the short space of fifty years provided it's people with better health and education than it's giant hostile neighbour.
A brutal neighbour who tried and still does try to crush it, first by invasion and then by a crippling embargo which the American bully forces other countries to take part in, Britain, shamefully obeys.
I hope he lives into a long productive retirement and continues to run rings round the dullards who have up to now been the American presidents, Cuba remains a beacon of hope for the world, due in no small measure to Fidel, a true giant.
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74 comments:
Terry
A shame to rain on your eulogy, but La Castro has 'seen off' ten Presidents because the US is a democracy and can vote for change, whereas Cuba isn,t and Cubans can't.
Just what is so 'glorious' about living in a 'poor third world country of 11 million' ????
It's easy to say all this from the safety of your warm fireside.
Only wish the Speaker of the House Commons (nothing common about it) would put his feet up as well.
Does it really matter if Mr Speaker is claiming expenses for a house with no mortgage? Or that Mrs Speaker seems to spend every living minute whizzing around London in a taxi all paid for by the taxpayer? It seems trivial but it should matter to all of us. Not to be too unfair on Mrs Speaker If I was stuck indoors with Mr Speaker I too would be tempted to spend all day in a London taxi.
The Speaker of the House of Commons is a prestigious job, the upholder of fair play and the rules of Parliament. Some have said that the current Mr Speaker isn't posh enough or bright enough to do the job. These people I have no time for. However you would think that Mr Speaker knowing there is a section of MPs who are out to get him would ensure that he is squeaky clean. Instead he has been helping himself to just about every allowance going. No one has said that he has done anything illegal but he certainly has been taking as much money as he could get. This is really all about greed I'm afraid.
He earns a fantastic salary, more than enough to fly his family to London or pay for their taxis but instead he would rather dip our pockets. I remember when David McCletchie was also caught using taxis at the public's expense, he eventually had to pay the money back and so should Mr Speaker. His recent attempts at the "I'm being picked on by the poshies" smoke screen is not going to work. He must account for his actions and explain why he is taking all this money in the first place.
More importantly he should get Mrs Speaker to take the occasional taxi around his constituency and report back. It tops the league tables for bad health, housing and poverty. All while Mr Speaker is raking it in. He has no constituency office in Springburn, instead the parliamentary office is located in the leafy Lib Dem seat of Bishopbriggs & Milngavie? The office is located in the posh suburb of Glasgow where he lives. I thought the normal procedure was to have your office in the area that you represented but what do I know? This means that all his parliamentary allowances for office support and staff are safely tucked up in the Martin household accounts. And don't expect to be able to pop into his 'office' as it's appointments only. He has been the MP for Springburn since 1979, so what exactly has he done for the area? Not very much by the looks of it but he has certainly done a lot for himself. He is at best an absentee MP with no real connection to his seat.
I am frankly sickened by this grubby and grasping greed. He is only serving to feather his own nest while his own seat languishes in poverty. I would like to see Mr Speaker on performance related pay, that way he could account for his salary. However I doubt he would make the money he earned as a sheet metal worker in the 1960s.
After the posts encouraging you to write about Castro's retirement, this post is clearly designed to wind up the usual suspects amongst your comentators - and I'm sure it will work. Even I, a dedicated libertarian can recognise that you could not believe him to be as heroic as you pretend!
Good comedy value though!
When your hero allowed the Soviet union the go ahead, to start deploying nuclear warheads on his island, he nearly played a huge part in starting world war three.
They say the British public get the politicians/councillors, of which they truly deserve.
What on earth have we done to deserve you?.
Your ignorance staggers me....
Castro's rule hasn't been all bad for the reasons you outline above but Cuba won't be a beacon of hope until
it's a proper democracy and ceases oppressing gay and lesbian Cubans because from my lesbian perspective I don't see much hope there.
I visited Cuba two years ago and was pretty disgusted by the way Cubans were excluded from the hotel (except to work). Did Castro think that Brits weren't good enough to mix with Cubans or was it the other way round? Either way it's a shabby way to treat people.
Comrade Terry;
In your perfect Marxist Utopia what would you do?.
Im afraid you havent got the brains to be considered an intellectual, and judging by your current profile, hard toil on a "workers collective" would also be out.
So - I ask again - What exactly is it that you would do?.
Would their still be a place for a useless, incompedent, circus act, or would that too be outlawed under a politically correct doctrine for dogmatic baffoons?.
I've Got it!!!
How would court jester fit?.
You could fill that part in a Marxist minute.
Terry;
Why wont you support the war on terror like any other rational person in this Great Nation of ours. We should all be proud that the USA are our greatest allies, and not stoop to undermine them as you are so clearly attempting to do here.
Castro was a barbaric thug, George W Bush is certainly not. Surely you can see the logic in these words of reason.
After all it was your Labour government that went into Iraq alongside our greatest of friends.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Do you honestly believe the drivel you have written?
Can you honestly say that the Cuban people are truly free and prosperous?
Of course not! You have never so much as lifted your lardy arse out of your comfortable armchair to go and see for yourself the poverty, degradation and squalor that the Cuban people are subjected to. Fidel took over in the fifties and the country is still stuck there.
How does Fidel's persecution of homosexuals square up with you o great Lesbian and Gay champion?
Cuba a beacon of hope for the world? Surely not the same Cuba from which 10% of the population fled to live in America? Surely not the same Cuba which has been constantly criticised for human rights abuses and which censors freedom of association and speech?
Castro was a vicious communist dictator who brutally supressed any who might oppose his tyranny. Unlike the 10 "wretched" presidents he outlasted, Castro was not confined to only two terms in office but was free to fill public offices with his own loyal comrades whilst keeping up (barely) a facade of partial democracy.
The only positive thing about Castro's pathetic career is that the CIA didn't manage to assassinate him and risk turning him into a communist "martyr" to be idolised by other idiots.
(Macnasty) 26/02/08
That’s ten democratic presidents who have tried to murder him and starve the Cuban people.
Cubans have 95% turn outs at elections while in America the president gets his brother to fix it for him.
(Anonymous) 26/02/08
Turning a stinking corrupt capitalist playground into a country where the people are the number one priority and providing them with education and health care is glorious.
In fact it’s revolutionary.
(Andy) 26/02/08
Oh he’s heroic alright but, I think you are the one winding up not me.
(Stopmakingsense) 26/02/08
Why should anyone regard this post as anything other than a highly subjective right wing rant ?
It was Kruschev not Kennedy who saved the world.
Terry;
I was sitting, minding my own business reading a highly emotive article on rugby union, when up popped the name of one Councillor Terry Kelly, suggesting that the game of rugby was exclusively for toffs.
How can you possibly make such a sweeping statement?.
ah love these socialists who admire from afar. they wouldnt go and live there. oh and by the way the Britain who shamefully took part in blockades against the heroic cubans was.....
Ta Ra. included Labour ones. You know the one whose membership card you cling on for dear life coz it helps feed your family.
(Anonymous) 26/02/08
I have never claimed that Cuba is without criticism and they do have a problem with their ‘macho’ culture but fair treatment for all is what matters and they will achieve that they are a success by any measure.
I have never been there but many close friends and relatives have and the picture you paint is not one that I recognise from them.
(Anonymous) 27/02/08
Thank you for that -------------- what ? Argument ?
(Abandonship) 27/02/08
I do support the war on terror - We don’t live in a great nation - I’m ashamed at our relationship with the USA - Castro is not a barbaric thug, George Bush is - there is no logic in your words - The Labour Govt. did go into war in Iraq but the Americans are not our greatest of friends.
Ah the cut and thrust of debate eh.
(Serpico) 08:05
Cuba is not perfect but, you clearly haven’t been around this country or America.
(Anonymous) 14:48
Not very original, are you still reading the superman comics ?
President Bush tells his brother to fix it and he’s in again.
I suppose that there is at least one part of Cuba which is free and democratic, that will be Guantanamo right ?
Fidel is 6Ft. 3" tall with a long black beard and he's quite well known.the CIA have failed on 600 occasions to kill him.
What are they like ? honestly, what are they like ? they give international capitalist murderers a bad name.
(Abandonship) 16:56
I can’t defend that statement because I don’t remember making it, perhaps you could show me.
I did say that it was played by people who hadn’t the ability to play football and I think I said that it required no skill and oh, I do remember saying that it wasn’t representative.
I probably said more, do you want to take up the argument ? It has already raged for some time ages ago, read past comments and blogs.
(Anonymous) 17:42
Wow ! Another anonymous tough nut where do you all come from ? Do you ever get embarrassed by writing things that you would never have the bottle to say to someone’s face ?
'Cuba gets 95% turnout at elections.'
Yup, and they all voted for Fidel.
Stalin, Pol Pot, Hitler, Mussolini, Idi Amin and Mad Bob all enjoyed the same level of support, so there's nothing fishy there then.
"Cuba is not perfect but, you clearly haven’t been around this country or America."
You assume incorrectly o great lesbian and gay champion. In this country nor in America I am not at risk of imprisonment or for my sexual preference.
"Do you ever get embarrassed by writing things that you would never have the bottle to say to someone’s face ?"
I'd say it tou your face alright just to see you shit yourself.
anonymous - Feb. 26 Th. 08-o8.09 pm
Apart from proving that you can read and regurgitate right wing press stories what is there in this overlong rant ?
If you want to come back make it briefer.
(Macnasty) 27/02/08
95% is better than the 25% who voted for cretin in the Whitehouse and even that was bent by his brother Jeb.
Terry:
I will limit myself to two points:
1. Next time somebody asks you whether you support gays and lesbians, please consider your answer in light of your unstinting praise for a man who sent homosexuals to death camps. I think that you are geuinly pro-homosexual, but can't you see the contradiction here?
2. All Cuban elections, whether for president or MP, only have one candidate. And voting is effectviely compulsory. Obviously you did not realise that.
(Abandonship) 28/02/08
As I suspected absolutely nothing, presumably you know what you are on about.
And it’s far far too long, if you want to come back and try to make sense, make it shorter.
Terry
I see that Harry Wales, scion of the bloodsucking, worthless, grind-the-faces-of-the-poor-into-the-mud, bird massacring Windsors is currently in Afghanistan with his soldiers.
Any comments or perhaps an apology?
Serpico -
If you have been around here you have not been paying attention.
If Cuban treatment of the gay community is your best shot it doesn’t amount to much.
My information is that an openly gay person is as tolerated in Havana as he/she is in London or New York.
(Anonymous) 12:30
I’m not difficult to find tough guy.
(Rumbold) 17:55
1/ Cuba has made huge strides in the field of gay rights and is improving. This country as well as America has a history of persecution of Gays second to none. Let me ask you one why are so many gays here and in the USA in the closet ? They don’t have to worry about big bad Fidel do they ?
2/ I know about Cuban elections and Cuban Govt. and I happen to think that it is better than ours. ‘Obviously you didn’t know that’
Kelly 7.34
'The Cuban system is better than ours.' (paraphrase)
Terry, lovely boy, CUBA IS A DICTATORSHIP.
Do you realise if we had that system over here, Alex Salmond could be in power for ever?
macnasty 7.22 pm 28/02/08
The only people due an apology are his personal body guards.
The Taliban will no doubt now be looking for a red haired man staggering about drunk dressed as a nazi.
They are not his soldiers they are his grannies.
(Macnasty) 19:45
I don’t agree but, you will have to do better than that.
Kelly 7.46
A cheap shot Councillor and one worthy of a Glasgow Labour politician.
If any soldier in the British Army could have escaped serving in Afghanistan, that soldier is Prince Harry. That he chose not to do so reflects great credit on himself and his family.
So come on big man - 'God save the Queen.' And Harry
Harry has been a Forward Air Controller. His bodyguards are the Brigade of Gurkha which I think you will agree as a bodyguard are pretty formidable.
But given that he has been out there for 10 weeks without fanfare doing the dirty work on the front line and now looks like only being recalled because of this story will you now accept that it is the Army brass that are the cowards, that Harry could have declined to go and that this makes him a genuine hero? And will you now apologise for the libelous remarks you have made in the comments section of your blog.
If you don't I suspect that it will not be Harry that comes off as the coward here.
Terry;
Very good analysis on Prince Harry.
Ide never thought of the situation in that particular context before.
I wonder if his bodyguards did indeed, sign-up, to go swanning off, and "protect the royal backside", in Afgahnistan.
Perhaps it was infact they, whom initially leaked the story to the worlds media.
Terry:
"This country as well as America has a history of persecution of Gays second to none. Let me ask you one why are so many gays here and in the USA in the closet?"
Homosexual acts are legal in the UK and US. Yes, it is not a perfect society in either country, but it is darn sight better than countries that execute you for such things.
"Cuba has made huge strides in the field of gay rights and is improving."
Yes, homosexuals have a better life than they did before, but remember that it was Castro who treated them badly. To quote:
"In the mid-1960s, the country-wide UMAP (Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción) program sent countless gays (particularly effeminate males) to forced labor camps for "rehabilitation" and "re-education", without charge or trial. Even after the end of the UMAP programs, effeminate boys were forced to undergo aversion therapy."
A hero of the left eh?
"I know about Cuban elections and Cuban Govt. and I happen to think that it is better than ours."
You mean that you wish to end free and fair elections in this country? Can I quote you on that?
"If Cuban treatment of the gay community is your best shot it doesn’t amount to much."
I was asking how Fidel's treatment of Homosexuals square's with your own alleged championing of gay rights.
You seem to think that becuase Castro is a socialist ruler standing up to the might of the USA, whatever he does to his own people; imprisonment of political dissenters, imprisonment of homosexuals, etc., then that's okay.
And if you believe the propaganda that the CIA have tried 600 times to kill Fidel then you are a bigger fool than I imagined. If the US really wanted Fidel dead, he would have been dead a long time ago.
Palestinian terrorists killed a Israeli civilian. In self defence, Israel launched an attack to stop the terrorists from killing other innocent civilians. Unfortunately as th terrorists were using ordinary palestinains as human shields four children died. What do you say to that?
Councillor,
Fidel and Che between them have presided over one of the most evil regimes in 20th-century history.
Thankfully, most people can see through the other evil Communist leaders of the last century (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc.), even if you singularly refuse to.
But for some reason, Che and Castro retain a wholly undeserved romance that belies the fact that they were child-killing, homosexual-hating fascists who hid behind the red flag.
A South American friend of mine was actually reduced to tears when she arrived in Scotland and saw a man walking down the street proudly bearing the image of this evil serial killer.
You might agree with their socialist ideology, and you're welcome to your view. But don't try to pretend that Che and Castro were anything other than evil monsters.
The only regret I have is that Castro's reign of terror didn't end with a bullet to the back of his head - the fate that befell so many of his critics over the years. And yes, before you ask, I'd happily pull the trigger.
Why don't you shove your copy of the Communist manifesto up your **** and get a damm job!!!?
(Macnasty) 28/02/08
You are what those who work in the con industry call a ‘mark’ and a rather dim one at that.
Have you given any thought to the kind of army which submits to the whims of one it’s soldiers ?
What does that say about the British Army ? What does it say about the soldier who makes these demands ?
It’s all rather a sick joke isn’t it.
(ShrekBall) 29/02/08
This might come as a shock to you but there are rather a lot of people, not only me who think that this is an elaborate propaganda stunt.
For it to succeed you need people who are so inadequate that they desperately need the royals to be heroes.
The Gurkhas are crack soldiers who have been used and abused and manipulated by Britain for far too long.
I have called Harry many things but never a coward and I certainly don’t regard him as a hero, I find anyone who does quite pathetic.
(Henry) 29/02/08
Who knows, the Royals have been conning people for hundreds of years they are damned good at it.
(Rumbold) 29/02/08
“Homosexual acts are legal in the UK and US” - And Cuba.
“Can I quote you on that” ?
You can quote me on anything, it would be nice though if you didn’t quote me out of context or quote me on your interpretation of what I said, like wishing to end free elections etc.
Serpico - Feb 29Th.08 2.03 pm.
You clearly accept the CIA's honest unbiased version of Cuba - IMO that makes you a fool.
Terry,
I know you're too honest to deny saying that you preferred the Cuban system to ours. (Bearing in mind we have it in writing)
Their system does not include free elections.
Now you say that you do believe in free elections.
To quote my old Grannie, 'You cannae have the bun AND the halfpenny,' so which is it - the Cuban system which would make Salmond Supreme Leader for Life, or ours, offering a faint hope of Labour gaining power again?
By the way, your response to my Prince Harry post was a tad ungracious. Smacked of lese Majeste. Most people thought the boy done good.
Now if the Cuban version of Kelly had said something similarly rude about Fidel.........
(Anonymous) 29/02/08
I suppose that would be an attempt to excuse the Israeli state of using collective punishment of civilians but, it’s lies and I doubt if anyone believes Israel anymore - it’s another Israeli war crime.
(Macnasty) 17:51
My response to your prince Harry post was not ungracious it was honest, you wouldn’t understand.
The rest of this is regurgitated nonsense. Western democracy is not superior it is badly flawed, ask the Bush brothers.
(Anonymous) 28/02/08
OK so you can get more stupid then.
Terry:
"You can quote me on anything, it would be nice though if you didn’t quote me out of context or quote me on your interpretation of what I said, like wishing to end free elections etc."
Touche. But unless you catagorically state that the UK's electoral system is better than that of Cuba's, then you are saying that you would prefer a system without free and fair elections.
Have you given any thought to the kind of army which submits to the whims of one it’s soldiers ?
What does that say about the British Army ? What does it say about the soldier who makes these demands ?
It’s all rather a sick joke isn’t it.
Your total ignorance showing again on military matters.
Any soldier has the right to refuse to soldier if they wish, and then they will be thrown out. Any soldier also has the right to fight with his unit, and rightly so.
It seems you complain if he doesn't want to serve, and you call him a coward, and if he does you call it his demanding to serve on a whim. Very silly.
The most famous of those who refused to soldier was the yellow socialist scumbag Billy Bragg, who was scared to go to NI and was subsequently dishonourably discharged. He is now a real champagne socialist living the country gentry dream...shooting and hunting and everything...but still turning up at the odd rally to give his socialist credentials an airing.
Terry 6.30pm
You have not answered my question, so in case you found it too difficult, I'll simplify it:
Do you want free elections or do you prefer the Cuban system?
As Grannie said, you can't have both.
(Rumbold) 01/03/08
I’m saying that I prefer an election system which is fair and free, and that I prefer Cuba.
(Anonymous) 11:30
Soldier to army brass “ I know we are due to go to the war tomorrow sir but I’ve decided not to go”
army brass to soldier “we’ll have to expel you then lad” soldier to brass “OK sir” brass to soldier “ carry on”
You haven’t a clue about army life, ask any soldier the number one thing that a soldier learns and has to understand.
It’s not how to march or fire a rifle it’s to do what you are told, end of story, unless you are a royal that is.
“We obey orders or people die it’s that simple” Jack Nicholson ( Col. Nathan Jessop )
Terry 5.54
'I prefer an election system that is fair and free and I prefer Cuba.'
Terry, by including these two mutually exclusive preferences in the same sentence, you're using the English language in a way that wouldn't have occurred to Shakespeare. Or even Alastair Campbell.
(Anonymous) 18:54
Do you realize that disagreeing with me does not make me wrong and you right, is there any point to writing in with drivel like this.
Try an argument.
"“We obey orders or people die it’s that simple” Jack Nicholson ( Col. Nathan Jessop )"
Reduced to quoting fictional characters in Hollywood movies. Oh dear!
Terry,
An RAF officer refused to go to Iraq on the basis that he thought the war was illegal. He was court marshaled and discharged. This is the procedure for any soldier.
Your straw man argument that there will be a civil discourse that will result in the soldier being given a hand shake and a good luck message is pathetic. It is clearly you who knows nothing of military matters if you think this happens.
The soldier can refuse to carry out orders but then there is much screaming and involvement of steroid junkies in red hats. Not very pleasant but still an option if you don't want to go.
And as someone who believes that Cuban elections are free and fair you are singularly unqualified to declare that you can spot propaganda.
Terry:
"I’m saying that I prefer an election system which is fair and free, and that I prefer Cuba."
I don't understand. The two are mutually exclusive.
(Serpico) 08:13
Fictional characters are appropriate for this farce.
(ShrekBall) 09:10
The ‘civil discourse’ was irony, for Christ’s sake man.
Harry was able to tell the highest commanders what to do and get away with it, that is not irony and not funny, it’s an example of the pathetic bunch of nonentities who are in charge of our soldiers.
(Rumbold) 10:08
That sounds as if you’ve given up.
No, your example was parody not irony. You sought to parody a situation you observed.
If a soldier wants a fight they can transfer to a front line unit. If they don't they can refuse and be kicked out. This applies for all soldiers.
How exactly your PARODY scene relates to your assumption that it was a 2nd Lt telling Whitehall that he was going to fight is a bit unclear. Your PARODY suggests a soldier refusing to fight which Harry did not.
You of course forget how much the Royal Marines bent over backwards for Prince Edward and how they lowered their standards just to...oh wait.
Terry:
"That sounds as if you’ve given up."
You can have that effect sometimes. Heh.
Soldier to army brass “ I know we are due to go to the war tomorrow sir but I’ve decided not to go”
army brass to soldier “we’ll have to expel you then lad” soldier to brass “OK sir” brass to soldier “ carry on”
YESSSS!!! That is how it works! If a soldier refuses to soldier, like Bragg because he was a coward, then he gets jailed and then invited to buy himself out. The army doesn't want cowards like Bragg and they haven't for decades shot them for desertion, so out they go.
You haven’t a clue about army life, ask any soldier the number one thing that a soldier learns and has to understand.
Says you never having been a soldier?
It’s not how to march or fire a rifle it’s to do what you are told, end of story, unless you are a royal that is.
No it isn't.
“We obey orders or people die it’s that simple” Jack Nicholson ( Col. Nathan Jessop )
Ahhhh, so that is where you learnt your vast military knowledge...from Jack Nicholson in Hollywwod movies...I thought so.
(Rumbold) 03/03/08
It’s a combination of my rapier wit and your lack of decent material.
Terry:
"It’s a combination of my rapier wit and your lack of decent material."
Something like that.
(Rumbold) 11:30
Just kidding of course.
I don’t know if you read the other comments that I get but they are not very much in the way of humour or insight.
I am getting bored so I wish you a full recovery to your former nearly always wrong but sometimes quite funny self.
Terry:
"I am getting bored so I wish you a full recovery to your former nearly always wrong but sometimes quite funny self."
Very kind of you to say so. I shall endevour to provide you with a sparring partner worthy of your talents.
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