HAVANA - Fidel Castro said Wednesday he is not yet healthy enough to speak to Cuba's masses in person and can't campaign for Sunday's parliamentary elections.
Hmm. So they were all on the fence, but an appearance by El Jefe now, that'd change some hearts and minds . . .
"I am not physically able to speak directly to the citizens of the municipality where I was nominated for our elections next Sunday," the ailing 81-year-old wrote in an essay published Wednesday by state news media.
Glad to know his mad essay writing skilz are getting a workout. I find that extemporaneous speaking and essay writing require overlapping but not identical skills. Do you agree Castrito?
Castro's latest essay focused on blasting U.S. President George W. Bush, but included references to the Cuban leader's health.
He's writing for the Huffington Post and Mother Jones?
It was published on the front pages of state-run newspapers a day after Castro met for more than two hours with Brazilian President Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who said he though Castro appeared healthy enough to return to politics.
Yeah, you know, politics. That give and take, opposing parties, all that . . .
Castro has not been seen in public since July 2006, when emergency intestinal surgery forced him to cede power to a provisional government headed by his younger brother Raul, five years his junior.
Wait, I'm confused . . . who elected Raul? Is he on the ballot? Is he one of the opposing parties?
Riddle me this Batman: Why do the most heinous non-democratic regimes hold "elections"? I mean, is it one of those things whereby they can say "we hold elections too!". What I find funny, too, is among certain quarters, we engage in self-flagellation because we're not perfect. And to some extent I agree, we should constantly engage in the type of behavior that puts our institutions under the microscope and makes them more transparent, and those in charge more accountable. I mean, I love it when some Dirt-istan starts talkin' smack about our human rights issues. Are we perfect? Nope. Can we do better? Yep. But until you get close to our GENERAL level of competence, you can have a nice warm glass of shut the heck up.
Update: I thought about this some more and realized it pissed me off more than I had orignally thought. How come the article doesn't mention the sham aspects of it all? And riddle me this: reporters will admit that they have to toe the party line just to get access to these despotic regimes. Then they print what the regime tells them, rather than the truth. So the argument is "We print what they tell us so we have access to the lies they are going to tell us". Smooth. I mean, please. Castro could wash his arse for 40 years and never get all the AP reporter lipstick off it. Why not take a stand and only print real stuff, let the chips fall where they may and then REPORT that they don't let you report anything.
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