Uncommon Sense

Jay Leno idiot alert (UPDATED)

On a good day, Jay Leno is not very funny.

He was especially not funny when last week he told the following joke, according to NewsMax.com:

"How is this for amazing? A seven-year-old boy named Braxton Bilbrey has become the youngest person ever to swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco. He broke the old record set by Elian Gonzalez."

Not funny, when considering that everyone else on Elian's raft, including his mother, died.

And not funny, when considering the extremes to which Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and the rest of the U.S. government went to return him to life imprisonment in Cuba.

In an e-mail, an Uncommon Sense reader takes it from there:

Did you happen to hear it? I thought it was in very poor taste. I sent him this letter.

Dear Jay,

Last nite I watched your show as I sometimes do and I was astonished and amazed that you would make fun of Elian Gonzales by making a comparison to that boy who swam in San Francisco recently. As a son of Cuban exiles born in America and educated in America, I am flabbergasted that you would make fun of a serious situation in which a boy's human rights are and were being violated. That boy who swam in San Fransciso did it bc of a whim and his daddy was waiting for him, not Fidel at the other end. Elian's rights were violated. Elian Gonzales lost his mother and was in shark infested waters for hours- ALONE- in the Atlantic.What if that had been your son? There have been over 2,000,000 exiles and 200,000 dead since the Cuban Rob-olution of 1959 due to that tyrant liar in Havana. Have you ever had to leave or flee your homeland? I am ashamed at your "joke". You found that funny? Seriously did you? Maybe you could go see "The Lost City" by Andy Garcia. It's very painful to hear someone like you laugh on National TV at a situation in which a mother- a Human Being- lost her life to bring her son to freedom , and not to speak of the method that was used to take him out of that home in Miami. I suppose if Elian were here right now and older he wouldn't find your "joke" very funny. Just an educated guess. Daily, people risk their lives on rafts in shark infested waters, to come to the USA from Cuba for freedom from that tyranny. Remember, these are Political Refugees trying to escape a Totalitarian Regime. Remember, Cuba used to be a First World Nation and there was net migration before 1959. Guess what? Elian can't watch your show. I felt very hurt to hear your comments about that young boy who now is a member of a slave state of 11 million people with NO rights and has NO freedom at all. I'm sure he'd find your "joke" very funny-not. Please show some respect for a nation of people who were Betrayed, which has had no freedom for 47 years and who were strong allies of the USA until the liar came into power. Here read this The Real Cuba? — I'm sure Elian would find your joke distasteful if he were old enough or free enough to have heard it and I think his mother would also, if she were alive. I'm sure the Cuban American community will love your "joke"after enduring 47 years in Exile. Ha Ha. Very Funny. Whatever. Maybe someday you'll understand why the Cuban-Amercians defended that boys rights because now,guess what? Yup. He has none. What do you care? You've been free all your life.

E-mail Leno by going here.

UPDATED, 10:12 p.m. EDT

Another reader takes Leno to task:

Dear Jay:

I didn't see the show in which you made your joke about the boy that
swam across San Francisco Bay, equating that to Elian Gonzalez. I'm
willing to give you a pass because I know you have a team of writers
and it's their job to be irreverent. But there comes a point that
irreverence becomes cruel. As you probably know, Elian Gonzalez was
the lone survivor among a group of rafters that included his own
mother.

When I was 15 years old, a friend and I ran out of gas on my 15-foot
boat in Miami's Biscayne bay. We drifted to a mangrove where I tied
the boat and we began a couple-of-miles trek, slogging through the
mud, looking for any signs of life. My friend began to sob and cry
as darkness fell. We were both terrified and I tried to help him
keep it together. Finally we reached a home where we were able to
speak with our families on the telephone. The whole episode lasted
probably a couple of hours. Now imagine being on raft in the middle
of the straights of Florida, drifting for days, watching people die
around you. This is not fiction this is what ACTUALLY happened to
Elian Gonzalez.

Now, Elian will never hear your joke, because he was sent back to
live in a totalitarian country by Bill Clinton and Janet Reno, but
your joke was extremely insensitive to the thousands of people who
have lost relatives attempting to flee tyranny.

I understand that there are probably a few jokes you wish could take
back. It's the nature of your business where you try to entertain us
by filling an hour each night. This joke should be on your personal
list of regrettable mistakes.

Another Cuban journalist arrested (UPDATED)

Armando Betancourt

UPDATED: Aug. 22, 2007

Betancourt was released from prison, after serving a 15-month sentence handed down in July 2007.

From Committee to Protect Journalists, via El Cafe Cubano:

Reporter jailed in Cuba after covering government evictions

New York, May 30, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention of independent Cuban journalist Armando Betancourt who was arrested a week ago while covering the evictions of dozens of families from their homes in the central city of Camagüey, sources told CPJ.

On May 23, authorities forcefully evicted families allegedly occupying homes illegally, according to local sources. Betancourt, a reporter for the news agency Nueva Prensa Cubana in Camagüey, was arrested along with several people who were protesting the evictions, a relative told CPJ. The journalist did not participate in the protests, according to several sources.

At the time of the arrest, Betancourt identified himself as a journalist, sources told CPJ. The journalist handed over his notes before he was pushed into a truck and taken into custody, they said

The journalist is being held at a local police station on the outskirts of Camagüey, CPJ sources said. Authorities confirmed the detention to a family member on May 24, but relatives have not been allowed to visit him, a relative said. Police told Betancourt’s family that the journalist would be charged with aggravated public disturbance and could be sentenced to prison.

“We are outraged by the arrest of our colleague who was arbitrarily detained solely for doing his job,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. “We call on Cuban authorities to immediately release Betancourt and the other 24 journalists who are currently imprisoned.”

UPDATED, 7:27 a.m., June 1, 2006

Reporters Without Borders has more details on Betancourt's arrest.

Dissident Ernesto Corría said the police approached Betancourt and asked him to identify himself. When he said he was an independent journalist, he was immediately arrested and taken in a truck to a police station on Avellaneda street. From there he was transferred to the premises of the PNR’s 3rd detachment in Camagüey on 29 May. Neither his parents nor his wife have been allowed to see him and his present situation is unknown.

The police said he is charged with “disturbing the peace.” According to Corría, other people present at the eviction were also arrested. The police told Betancourt’s family they would be able to visit him today if he was still being held at the 3rd detachment. But the police refused to let the family bring him clean clothes.

A Reporters Without Borders source said Betancourt had been hit many times by the police and was badly bruised, and this was why he was being kept in isolation.

UPDATED, 12:23 p.m. EDT

The Cuban Democracy Directorate reports that Betancourt's family was allowed to visit him on Wednesday.

"The family members informed that he is being charged with “Public Disorder,” under which charge, 9 other people have already been released on bail, expect for Betancourt," the CDD story states.

Fidel Castro's really big lie

Soon after seizing power, TV showman Ed Sullivan went to Cuba and landed an interview with el hijo de puta maximo himself, Fidel Castro.

Abajo Fidel has dug up a key moment from the interview in which Sullivan asks Castro to reveal the true nature of what he intends for Cuba.

Castro responded with a lie that has been stinging Cuba and Cubans for more than 47 years.

Watch the video here.

(H/T to Val at Babalú.)

Pray for Guillermo Fariñas (UPDATED)

From Net for Cuba:

151 days on a hunger strike: Fariñas Hernandez' health takes a turn for the worse.

"If God wants me to die, I will die. I will be a martyr for the free information in the world,"
— Guillermo Fariñas Hernández

(HABANA/CUBA/May 30/Puenteinfocubamiami.org) — The Cuban psychologist and independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas Hernández, in a hunger strike since January 31 in protest, demanding from the Cuban government a free access to the Internet, is suffering from pneumothorax, a life threatening condition caused by air within the pleural space, compromising cardiopulmonary function. He also presents high fever, pain on thorax incisions and is very weak.

On May 23rd, Fariñas had to be subjected to a Thoracentesis, a procedure to remove fluid from the space between the lungs and the chest wall called the pleural space. At this time, doctors are evaluating follow up procedures for residual liquid is still present in the independent journalist's left lung.

Guillermo Fariñas Hernández, doctor in psychology and general director of Cubanacán Press, presently in parole due to health reasons, began a hunger strike without fluids last January 31st, demanding that the Cuban government install free access to the Internet in his home.

Reporting from Havana to The Cuba Miami News Bridge Bureau Vladimiro Roca Antunez, Todos Unidos Spokesperson. Given on the 25th day of May of 2006.

UPDATED, 10:30 a.m. EDT

La Ventanita has more, including a link to a AFP story story updating Fariñas' condition and efforts by other dissidents to encourage him to stop his protest.

An excerpt:

"We are going to have bad news at any time; he is in critical condition. This man could die. The government is being rigid, and it has his life in its hands," Elizardo Sanchez, president of the outlawed Cuban Committee for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, told AFP.

Relatives and dissident sources say Farinas' digestive system has sustained serious damage and that he has had blood in his thorax and around his lungs.

"He really started the hunger strike over his own case, but now he wants free access to the Internet for all Cubans, not just for him," said Sanchez. "It is a price too dear for this government which is not going to give in, because it sees the Web as a danger and a threat."

Economist Oscar Espinoza, one of the more than 70 dissidents rounded up in a 2004 crackdown, and later released due to his health problems, said the Internet was a "formidable enemy of the government.

"I doubt it is going to give into (Farinas') demand," Espinoza said.

In the letter from Farinas, released by dissidents on Thursday, Farinas pleaded with the new United Nations human rights council to sanction Cuba for denying Cubans the right to communicate and seek information freely.

"I demand that the Castro government instal Internet in my home to set a precedent, as all Cubans want to communicate freely with the civilized and democratic world," wrote Farinas. Dissident sources say this strike was his 20th protest hunger strike.

The government maintains that limited Internet access is a result of the US economic embargo on the island that prohibits the use of underwater telecoms cables just off the coast. It also cites the high cost of Internet service hookups. Havana describes Cuban dissidents as US-funded mercenaries.

Burn the flag, not the Constitution

"The First Amendment exists to insure that freedom of speech and expression applies not just to that with which we agree or disagree, but also that which we find outrageous. ... I would not amend that great shield of democracy to hammer a few miscreants. The flag will be flying proudly long after they have slunk away.”
— Gen. Colin Powell (Ret.), on proposals to ban burning of the American flag.

A proposed “flag-protection” amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a horrible solution to a barely existing problem — the burning of American flags.

But that’s not really what Republicans are trying to address, with the flag amendment, as well as with another proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

The real problem is that without the conservative Americans for whom such measures are litmus tests for their votes, Republicans, for whom not much else is working, could suffer historic defeats at the polls this fall.

That the Republicans would resort to altering the Constitution so that it limits freedom, to win votes indicates how far the GOP has already fallen.

Of the two proposed amendments, prospects are more immediate for the “flag-amendment.” The House has already approved, and a Senate committee signed off earlier this month. Not known is whether backers will be able to get the required two-thirds majority when it is considered by the full Senate in June.

Supporters have been pushing for a flag amendment since 1989, when the Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag is a form of political expression protected by the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Amendment supporters reject that conclusion, arguing that burning the flag is not speech, just “offensive conduct” subject to regulation. Banning burning or other desecration, they argue, will not infringe on anyone’s rights.

Using that logic, the American flag is just a piece of multi-colored cloth. It does not represent freedom, liberty and all things American. And when they wave it proudly, all you are getting is exercise. There is no greater meaning.

Of course, they would not say that. They would argue that they are waving the flag to express their views, to express a larger point.

But the flag is not only theirs.

The flag, and the liberty and justice it stands for is for all Americans, even those who might choose to make their point by burning it.

“Flag burning and desecration is offensive because it is political.” the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in its talking points on the amendment. “Experience shows that the way to fight political expression with which one disagrees is not to outlaw it, but to express disapproval.”

Regardless of what you think about flag-burning or same-sex marriage — neither is for me — all Americans ought to be bothered that politicians and some of their backers are so eager to trample on the Constitution to make their point.

The Constitution has been amended 27 times since it was first adopted in 1787. Except for measures changing how the government is formed, i.e. popular election of senators, the amendments have expanded individual Americans’ rights and liberties. (One exception was Prohibition, which was later repealed.)

The more recent trend, however, is to propose Constitutional amendments — like bans on flag burning and same-sex marriage —that would limit or diminish, not expand, Americans’ rights and liberties.

That is un-American, and in a time when there are so many profound challenges to our freedom and liberty, it is dangerous.

To compare the arguments of the opposting sides, visit the Citizens Flag Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union.

And you thought you had nosy neighbors

Thanks to Cuba's independent journalists and CubaNet, the outside world is able to learn about the absurdities of life on the island.

Here are two recent examples:

Man's choice: abandon wife or house

HAVANA, Cuba - May 29 (Roberto Santana Rodríguez / www.cubanet.org) -
Juan Carlos Linares has run afoul of Cuba's bureaucracy, and as a result
has been fined for cohabiting with his wife.

Linares, who owns a house in Old Havana, said he cannot have his wife
move in with him because housing authorities do not allow new residents
to move into the historic district.

The wife, then, lives in a house in the Diez de Octubre municipality
which, incidentally, she has been trying to buy for the last three years.
That is to say, she has been processing paperwork for the purchase of
the house for the last three years.

The problem, Linares said, is that if he registers as a resident in
Diez de Octubre, he would lose the property in Old Havana.

So he lives with his wife in her house, but since he is not registered
as a resident in the district, was fined last October 450 pesos, which
by now have doubled to 900 since he hasn't paid.

And he won't pay, he said, even though he could be sent to jail for up
to a year if he doesn't.

Linares said authorities have suggested to him that he either separate,
at least temporarily, from his wife, that he visit her at night, or
that he try not to be seen by any neighbors who could denounce his
presence in the district. (emphasis added)

|———|

Train derails — twice

CIEGO DE ÁVILA, Cuba - May 29 (Tico Morales, APLA / www.cubanet.org) -
The train known in the city of Morón as the "Battle of Ideas" derailed
twice on May 20.

The freighter, pulled by an ancient American-made locomotive, ran off
the tracks near the town of Peonía. A work crew from Morón went to its
aid, and managed to put all the rolling stock back on track after about
six hours work.

Five minutes after resuming its route, the train ran off the tracks
again.

This time, a heavy duty crane had to be brought in from Camagüey, since
the one available locally proved not up to the task of righting the
equipment.

The train typically carries building materials.

"The Lost City" — Dollars, cents and questions

After a month in very limited release, Andy Garcia's "The Lost City" this past weekend cracked the $1 million mark in ticket sales. The total box office take of more than $1.2 million is only a fraction of its $9.6 million production budget, but a closer look at the movie's performance shows that it is a hit.

"The Lost City," Garcia's love letter to Cuba, was the No. 23 movie of the four-day holiday weekend, earning $277,443. By comparison, the No. 1 movie, "X-Men: The Last Stand," earned more than $122.8 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

However, "The Lost City" was shown only at 51 theaters nationwide, meaning it earned an average of $5,440 per screen.

The only movies among the Top 10 with higher per-screen averages were No. 1 "X-Men" ($33,295), which premiered Friday; No. 2 "The Da Vinci Code" ($11,304); and No. 3 "Over the Hedge" ($8,629).

"The Lost City" will premiere this week at theaters in Honolulu; New Haven, Conn.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Sarasota, Fla. (The latter meaning I get to see it again sooner than I expected and if I missed anything in my earlier review.)

For a complete list of theater locations and a future release schedule, go here.

|———|

At an earlier post, a reader who just saw the movie had some comments and questions that I wanted to make sure everyone saw and had a chance to respond to.

I saw the movie in very liberal San Francisco last week. I drove a hundred miles from Sacramento to see it. From what I can determine, it isn't being shown anywhere else in northern Califotnia. There were no protestors, but not many people at the theatre. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The movie was listed in the theatre guide, but I never saw any ads.

I have heard on various blogs that the Hollywood leftists have sabotaged the movie. My question is, "by what mechanism?" Newspapers and TV stations will sell advertising to just about anything, as long as the checks don't bounce.

Could it be something as simple as Andy Garcia spent all his money making the movie, and had no funds left for advertising?

I'm not an expert on movie marketing, but it seems to me, that the movie COULD have done well. Any movie with three well-known stars (especially Hoffman)in it, that also has romance, violence, and great music, that was advertised properly, should have done well.

I just can't imagine Steven Spielberg calling every TV and radio station and "suggesting" that they shouldn't advertise the movie.

So what's up? Except for Miami, why is the movie only being shown in a handful of theatres with no advertising.

By the way, I have several Cuban American friends. I have pretty much adopted their point of view, which is that Castro is a terrorist, the sooner he's gone, the better. The travel ban and trade embargo have helped him stay in power, and he is more entrenched now than he was 2 years ago, thanks to the help of the Chinese and Venezuelans. According to my friends, these are pretty much the majority views of Cuban Americans under forty. Tell me again why Cuban Americans can't go every year and visit their elderly relatives and take them medications? Tell me again why I, as a conservative American, can't go there and see for myself?

I would appreciate your comments, especially about my questions about the movie.

|———|

I don't know too much about how Hollywood sells movies, although it seems that the movies with the bigger production budgets, get the bigger marketing and distribution budgets to ensure a return on investment.

Despite its big-budget feel and look, "The Lost City" is an independent, low-budget film, so it is being marketed and distributed as such. I'm sure Garcia's, and the movie's, politics didn't help, but if Hollywood thought it could make money on this film, some big-time producer and/or studio would have been all over it.

Of course, as the numbers above show, "big-time" Hollywood guessed wrong about "The Lost City."

|———|

The embargo has not helped Castro stay in power.

If there is any international economic activity that has propped up his dictatorship it is the trade and other business he does with Europeans, Canadians, etc. — activity that only benefits the regime, and not the Cuban people. They are still poor, and they are still suffering from some of the worst human rights conditions on the planet.

Before the U.S. lifts its sanction, Havana — preferably, without Castro at the helm — must release its political prisoners and take other steps to loosen its hold on the nation's people.

For a blueprint of what needs to happen, go here. (Be sure to add your name to the plan.)

|———|

Blogger Silvio Canto Jr. saw "The Lost City" in Dallas this past weekend, and liked it, too.

Reason No. 87 to keep your kids off of MySpace

They just might show the world how young and dumb they are by, like Huey Freeman did, and express their love for Ché Guevara.

The good news, Huey is only 17. If he enrolls in Uncommon Sense's Ché Guevara Re-Education Program, he might still have a chance to save himself.

The bad news, Huey is only 17. Where are the kids of today picking up this crap?

(H/T to Babalú.)

Sign your name to Cuban freedom

Two ongoing online petition campaigns related to Cuba are worthy of your attention, and your signature:

— Reporters Without Borders is asking Fidel Castro to release some two dozen independent journalists imprisoned in his gulag. Most of the writers and editors were arrested during the "black spring" roundup of 75 anti-Castro dissidents. Amnesty International and other groups recognize most of the prisoners as "prisoners of conscience," persecuted and prosecuted because of their ideas and their courage to express them. Or in the case of most of the imprisoned journalists, just reporting the reality of life in Cuba.

I am not naive enough to believe that a petition alone will force Castro to act, but each signature added to the petition represents one more person not willing to let Castro off the hook for repressing one of the fundamental rights of man — the right to free expression.

We are all called to be witnesses to that tyranny so that it will not survive.

The 3/18 Project has more about the imprisoned journalists.

(A technical note: Reporters Without Borders is based in Paris, so the confirmation e-mail you will receive after signing the petition will be in French. Just in case you don't read French, the confirmation e-mail asks you click on the link to complete the petition signature process. Castro won't receive your message until you click on the link.)

— Babalú Blog is soliciting signatures for an open letter in support of the U.S. embargo against Cuba. The letter, which was drafted in late April in response to another letter encouraging a weakening of the embargo, has far attracted the signatures of about 330 people. The goal is to hit 1,000.

The crux of the letter are eight conditions that Cuba must meet before the full lifting of economic sanctions:

1. That all Cuban political prisoners and prisoners of conscience be released immediately and granted an unconditional amnesty.

2. That all Cubans be allowed to move freely within the country.

3. That the existing system of apartheid-like segregation be eradicated immediately, specifically that all Cubans be treated as equals to their foreign counterparts, such as “prominent scholars and artists” from abroad.

4. That all Cubans be granted access to all sources of uncensored information, whether in broadcast, print, or Internet immediately.

5. That all Cubans be granted the freedom to express their opinions freely without fear of repercussions.

6. That all Cubans be allowed to travel abroad freely.

7. That all Cubans be allowed to live, work, and seek a better life for themselves as they see fit.

8. That all Cubans be allowed to elect their leaders through verifiable, transparent democratic elections as allowed for in Cuba’s last legitimate constitution, the Constitution of 1940.

As efforts to weaken the embargo gear up anew, it is vital that people fully aware of, and not delusional about, the true nature of the Castro regime make their voices heard.

Signing the letter at Babalú — one of the most popular Cuba-related sites in the blogosphere — is one way to be heard.

Read, and "sign," the whole letter here.

Cuban human rights leader reports harassment

Juan Carlos González Leiva

Juan Carlos González Leiva, a leading Cuban human rights activist, may be blind, but he has witnessed the cruel, evil nature of the Castro regime. He continues to suffer for his decisions to resist the regime.

From Net for Cuba:

Cuban human rights activist, Juan Carlos González Leiva, is suffering constant and systematic acts of provocation and threats to his person and his home by Cuban State Security.

On May 24, 2006, the activist and his father were awakened suddenly when a huge stone was violently thrown against the gate of the house on Honorato del Castillo #154 between República and Cuba in the city of Ciego de Avila.

According to testimony by Juan Carlos, a post of military personnel that constantly keeps a vigil on him has been established facing his house. When he walks through the streets of Ciego de Avila, State Security agents threaten to beat him up, they shout insults at him, and they chant pro-governmental slogans at him, humiliating him publicly.

Read the rest of the store here.

In an open letter to the international community written last year, Gonzalez described the horrible human rights situation on the island.

An excerpt:

The Cuban government has crossed the confines of politics and has penetrated into the dark path of vandalism, organizing violent mobs of hundreds of armed people carrying metal rods and other weapons, who suddenly barge inside homes, even breaking into the bedrooms. Activists are attacked and are threatened with “being torn to pieces”; thus spreading panic amongst their family members and neighbors. An extensive report is needed to document the long list of victims of these acts.