From the WSJ Opinion Archives
Where
Is Everybody?
We're going to start calling him Raul "Waldo" Castro, and we'll let
the Washington Post, reporting from Havana, explain why:
In this island capital's long bus-stop lines and open markets, its offices and restaurants, the question keeps popping up: Where's Raúl?
Raúl Castro has yet to appear in public since being named temporary president of Cuba late Monday. His absence is adding a layer of intrigue to the speculation-heavy ambience that has settled over this city. It was two days ago that the Cuban government announced that Fidel Castro--who is recovering from intestinal surgery--would relinquish his 47-year hold on power to his younger brother.
"I think Raúl should have appeared by now, more than anything to calm the public and to show the world that everything is under control," said Joel, a taxi driver, who did not want to divulge his last name for fear of government reprisals.
Cuba's government has not made an official proclamation about Fidel Castro's health since late Tuesday evening, even as Cuban exiles and some U.S. officials have questioned whether the Cuban leader, whose 80th birthday is this month, has already died. The closest to an official statement was delivered in an unlikely forum on Wednesday when Ricardo Alarcón, the Cuban National Assembly president, told NPR's "All Thing [sic] Considered" that Fidel Castro would not return to power for "some weeks."
"Clearly something is going on in Cuba," adds ABC News. "Some day we will know what it means." Now that's what we call hard-hitting journalism!
Blogress Fausta Wertz translates the latest statement attributed to Fidel Castro and published by Granma, the state-run Cuban "news" agency, and offers her own interpretation:
I can not make up good news because it wouldn't be ethical, and if the news was bad, the only one to benefit is the enemy. Specifically, in Cuba, because of the evil empire's plans, the state of my health becomes a state secret that can not be constantly divulged; and the compatriots should understand that. I can't go into the vicious cycle of health parameters that change constantly throughout the day.
I can say that it's a stable situation, but a real evolution in the state of health needs the passage of time.
The most I can say is that the situation will remain stable for many days, before one can give a veredict [sic].
Interesting statement, indeed:
- Nowhere does one find Fidel's name on that.
- Underneath the convoluted wording (as is usual in Granma), lies the fact that there's no good news
- And what news there is won't be revealed for the time being
She also notes a Sky News report that "there was a small increase in police presence in poorer parts of Havana and communist neighbourhood organisations activated 'rapid response groups' used to put down riots." No doubt the riots they fear will be inspired by grief over the recent or impending death of this hero to the proletariat.
Meanwhile, here's a hilarious Associated Press headline from yesterday: "Castro Seems to Be Running Show in Cuba." This headline is false, but it would have been true had it appeared anywhere from 3 to 17,380 days earlier.
Mad
Mahmoud's Final Solution
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the
Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel, Iranian state media reported,"
the Associated Press reports:
In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad also called for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-back group Hezbollah.
"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," Ahmadinejad said, according to state-run television in a report posted on its Web site.
For some reason, this leads us to suspect that an "immediate cease-fire" might not be in Israel's interests. Ahmadinejad's genocidal ravings are causing some rethinking in Paris:
France's foreign minister condemned Ahmadinehjad's comments Thursday, saying Iran is ruining its chances to play a positive and stabilizing role in the Middle East.
"I totally condemn these words," Philippe Douste-Blazy said on France-Inter radio, saying they were "absolutely unacceptable on anyone's part, especially from a head of state."
As we noted Monday, Douste-Blazy earlier described Iran as "a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region." And in fairness, Iran is a great country. So is Germany--but it, too, has at times been run by lunatics.
Speaking of Iran and Germany, here's a disturbing Berlin dispatch from Reuters:
Iran has freed a son of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from house arrest, a German newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Die Welt said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard released Saad bin Laden on July 28 with the aim of sending him to the Syria-Lebanon border. It linked the reported move to the outbreak of war between Israel and Lebanese-based Hizbollah.
"From the Lebanese border, he has the task of building Islamist terror cells and preparing them to fight together with Hizbollah," Die Welt said, quoting intelligence information.
We have no idea if this is true, but it is a reminder to beware of fatuous claims that Shiites would never work with Sunnis, or secularists with fundamentalists, etc.
Something
for Everyone
YnetNews.com reports that Hezbollah rockets aimed at northern Israel yesterday
overshot their target and hit the West Bank:
Palestinian witnesses in the Jenin area, who noticed the rocket parts which fell between Beit Shean and Afula, said the rocket appeared to have fallen in the Gilboa area.
A Fatah activist from Jenin added that the rocket hit was heard clearly around the city, and a spark and a flame were also clearly seen.
The Fatah member related that local residents cheered when they heard the rocket fall and saw the resulting flames. "Even if it were to fall on our heads, it wouldn't have spoiled our joy. All of us here are praying for Hizbullah's success and victory," he said.
Sounds like a win-win to us, if only Hezbollah rockets stopped hitting Israel.
Not
to Mention Bicyclists
"Nature, Wildlife Also Victims of Rockets"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 2
Dems
to Allies: Drop Dead
A Los Angeles Times poll finds, not surprisingly, that Americans are highly
sympathetic to Israel in the Jewish state's conflict with Hezbollah. But there
are partisan differences:
The poll results suggested that the Middle East conflict could have domestic political consequences in the 2006 midterm elections and beyond, due in part to a growing partisan divide over Israel and its relationship with the United States. Republicans generally expressed stronger support for Israel, while Democrats tended to believe the United States should play a more neutral role in the region.
Overall, 50% of the survey's respondents said the United States should continue to align with Israel, compared with 44% who backed a more neutral posture. But the partisan gap was clear: Democrats supported neutrality over alignment, 54% to 39%, while Republicans supported alignment with the Jewish state 64% to 29%.
When John Kerry* ran for president, one of his chief talking points was that, as he put it in the first debate, he would "build strong alliances," in contrast with President Bush, whom he accused of having "pushed our allies aside." Yet Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to want to sell out a U.S. ally that faces a threat to its existence.
* First cousin of Brice LaLonde, former leader of France's Green Party.
Just
Following Precedent
Our Tuesday item on a lawsuit against Jordan's Arab Bank brought this email
from Bob Chlopak, a Washington lawyer whose firm, Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter
& Associates, represents the bank:
You referred to a quote in a New York Sun story, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter," that was inaccurately attributed by the newspaper to Kevin Walsh, an attorney for Arab Bank. The transcript of the hearing makes it clear that Walsh was quoting from the opinion in U.S. v. Yousef, a Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which should be binding on the District Court in determining the question of standing in the Alien Tort Act litigation against Arab Bank.
The only issue before the District Court this week was whether foreign plaintiffs can use U.S. federal courts to seek redress under this statute for acts that occurred outside the United States. Walsh was arguing that controlling Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions severely limit the use of U.S. courts for such purposes.
On the issue of terrorism, Arab Bank has repeatedly, and forcefully, stated its opposition to terrorism in all forms, and that it finds suicide bombing to be an abhorrent act. The Bank's legal argument that the Alien Tort litigation has no place in U.S. courts in no way contradicts its strong opposition to terrorism, nor should it reflect on the views of its lawyers, who also stand strongly against acts of terrorism.
Beyond
the Pale
Yesterday we made a passing reference to an image of Joe Lieberman in blackface,
which blogress Jane
Hamsher posted on the Puffington Host. Shortly after we wrote, the image
disappeared from the post. It's still available here,
here
and here.
Blogger Tom
Macguire (whose headline we borrowed) has lots of details.
Hamsher has issued an "apology" on her own blog, FiredOglake.com:
I sincerely apologize to anyone who was genuinely offended by the choice of images accompanying my blog post today on the Huffington Post. It's also important to note that I do not, nor have I ever worked for Ned Lamont's campaign. However, at their request, I removed the image earlier today. . . .
For weeks, Senator Lieberman has attempted to woo African Americans by pretending to be someone he clearly is not. Meanwhile, his campaign has liberally distributed race-baiting fliers that have the "paid for by" Joe's campaign disclaimer at the bottom, lying to the press about their intended recipients.
Those flyers (warning: link contains obscene language) note Lieberman's impressive history as a civil rights activist and fault Lamont for having belonged to an exclusive country club. The latter charge strikes us as something of a cheap shot, but it's the kind of cheap shot liberal politicians routinely take at conservative pols and appointees.
Lamont is joining Hamsher in the dance of distancing: "I don't know anything about the blogs," he tells the Washington Post. "I'm not responsible for those. I have no comment on them." Fair enough, but on Tuesday--the day before Hamsher posted the racist image--the Hartford Courant described her as part of Lamont's "entourage."
Hot
Enough for You?
We like to poke fun at "global warming," but even we are willing to
admit it's awfully hot out.
(Audience: "How hot is it?")
It's so hot, the other day we saw Al Gore walking down the street with an air-conditioner strapped to his back!
Then again, last we checked it usually was hot during the summer. And a refreshing breeze comes from the British Web site ePolitix.com:
A top think tank has criticised the language used by government, media and pressure groups to debate the problem of climate change.
Dubbing the use of alarmist language as "climate porn," the Institute for Public Policy Research called for more moderate use of terms and expressions. . . .
Climate change communications "should avoid using inflated or extreme language and placing the focus on small actions to solve the problem," concluded the research.
Meanwhile, check out this headline from the Associated Press: "S. Africans Shiver Through Harsh Winter." In August! Plainly factors other than SUV emissions have an influence on the weather.
Making
a Statement
Cleveland's WEWS-TV reports on a robbery at a pizza shop in suburban Avon Lake:
A man described as thin, short-haired, white and in his late 40s to early 50s handed the clerk a note saying he would be shot if he did not give the robber the money from the cash register.
Witnesses also described the man as wearing a baseball hat, glasses and a black shirt with a picture of President George W. Bush on it and the words "Not My President."
We're guessing he's not President Bush's robber either.
You
Can't Buy Advertising Like This
"State Court Rules Miller Genuine Draft Is Actually Beer"--headline,
WCAU-TV Web site (Philadelphia), Aug. 2
But
Bring Your Own Towel
"Starbucks Shares Sink as Sales Sputter"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 3
Bad
News for the Other 245,452,732
"Seven Indonesians Do Not Have Bird Flu"--headline, Medical News Today,
Aug. 3
Bottom Stories of the Day
- "Dog Destroys Elvis' Teddy Bear at Museum"--headline, Associated
Press, Aug. 2
- "Woman Seeking Ride Gets Picked Up"--headline, Facts
(Clute, Texas), Aug. 2
- "Pabriks Refuses to Meet Belarus Ambassador"--headline, Baltic
Times (Riga, Latvia), Aug. 2
- "More South Dakotans Say Daschle Should Skip Run for Presidency"--headline,
Argus
Leader (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Aug. 2
- "Sheep at Stew Leonard's Perishes in Heat"--headline, Advocate
(Stamford, Conn.), Aug. 3
- "Ranches Putting Cattle Out to Pasture"--headline, Associated
Press, Aug. 3
- "Mideast War Rages With No End in Sight"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 2
Dead
Ringers
Our item yesterday on the late Fidel Castro brought many responses like this
one, from reader Martin Dicker (quoting verbatim):
Always the confirmed wing-nut, always wrong, even on the most trivial matters.
It was Spanish Fascist Dictator Francisco Franco's "lingering death" that SNL spoofed not Tito's. Of course, since you were a lonely embryo back then, you couldn't possibly have seen SNL or you would have know that it was Franco. But, I imagine that in your ignorance you thought it was far better to make fun of a left-wing fascist rather than the real article.
Oh well, clueless and right-wing as usual (or is that one and the same thing?)
Typical
Actually, the other emails we received weren't bitter like this one, but they did say we mixed up Franco with Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito.
Now, it is true that "Saturday Night Live" had a running gag about Franco's death. Here is a description from Wikipedia.org:
After Franco's death, Chevy Chase, reader of the news on Saturday Night Live's comedic news segment Weekend Update, announced the dictator's death and read a quotation from Richard Nixon: "General Franco was a loyal friend and ally of the United States. He earned worldwide respect for Spain through firmness and fairness"; as an ironic counterpoint to this, a picture was displayed behind Chase, showing Franco standing alongside Adolf Hitler, both of them giving the "Nazi salute," a photo similar to this one.
From that point on, Chase made it clear that SNL would get the last laugh at Franco's expense. "This breaking news just in," Chase would announce-- "Generalísimo Francisco Franco is still dead!" The top story of the news segment for several weeks running was that Generalísimo Francisco Franco was still dead. . . . The line was also a perceived slap at then-NBC Nightly News main anchor John Chancellor, who due to his background as a foreign correspondent, felt the network should weigh its news more heavily toward world events, keeping Franco's deathwatch at the top of the headlines. Chancellor reportedly was miffed at both Chase and SNL over the running gag.
Thirty years later, the phrase is still in use. The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal uses the phrase as a tag for newspaper headlines that indicate something is still happening when it should be obvious, such as "Hunt for Bin Laden Still On" by Fox News.
Granted, Wikipedia is not authoritative, but a search of this Web site reveals that we have in fact used the line numerous times (though not as many as 60). So it seems that we were indeed aware of Chevy Chase's Franco line.
We were, however, referring to Tito, whose lingering death also was the subject of "Weekend Update" humor. Here is one such joke, read by Jane Curtin on March 8, 1980:
Yugloslav President Tito has now been on his deathbed for 66 days, and his condition is reported as stable. Tito still has a long way to go to beat the deathbed record of 45 1/2 months set in the '70s by Generalisimo Francisco Franco, but he's off to a good start. . . . While "Get Well" cards would be in poor taste, you might send him a simple "Beat Franco" card. The address is Death Bed, State Hospital, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Our reference was to another Tito joke, which we distinctly remember Bill Murray reading, though we can't find the transcript online. The punch line was something like, "Doctors say if his condition improves, they will be able to pronounce him dead."
This is similar to, and probably derivative of, a Chase Franco joke quoted by Wikipedia: "Despite Franco's death and an expected burial tomorrow, doctors say the dictator's health has taken a turn for the worse." But we thought the Tito gag fit better with Castro's situation, in that like Tito then, Castro now is officially "alive."
Anyway, Franco and Tito--or as we like to call them, "Frito"--are both still dead. So, for that matter, is the disgraced former head of Enron. You might say the chips are down for Frito-Lay.
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Brian O'Rourke, Dan O'Shea, Ethel Fenig, Ruth Papazian, Jonathan Kahan, Monty Krieger, Michael Segal, Steve Obeda, John Neal, Edward Schulze, Julie Beck, Brendan Schulman, Daniel Freedman, Ed Lasky, Daniel Goldstein, Philip Searles, Greg Hartman, Bruce McDonald, Martin Stein, Scot Silverstein, David Calhoun, Brad Wilcox, Doug Stuart, Steve Clarke, Sam Wakim, Thomas Mayer, Caryn Good, Tim Lindquist, Jeff Dobbs, Don Undis, John Murray, Jack Archer, Kyle Kyllan, Mary Swisher, Tim Graham, C.E. Dobkin, Micahel Aracic, Gregory Brunt, Daniel Foty, Casey McEnelly, Dennis Powell, Marion Dreyfus, John McDaniel, Walter Muller, Mark Peters, Kurt Loder, Michael Lustig, Scott Hemmen, Larry Dickerson, Rich Graff, Mark Soper, Gene Hoffman, Kevin Thomson, Keith Samuels, David Norcross, John McDowell, Michael Fox, Mark Nicholas, Bruce Bartlett, Robert Arvantis, Joseph Capaldi, Wayne Steadham, Ron Mechsner, John Minnick, Jeffrey Smith, Raymond Van Dyke, Willie Vanderbrink, David Tufte, James Snave, Robert Firriolo, Myron Nelson, Joe Kirby, Michael Duval, John Longfield, James Meyer, Gary Catt, Kelly Fogarty, Garry Cyranowski, Jim Robbins, Greg Foltz, Douglas Chesson, Stephen Flatow, Jim O'Connell, Patrick Clark, Louis Colombo and Ken Beitler. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: Will Senate liberals kill another estate-tax compromise?
- Peggy Noonan: Castro may be dead. It's time to kill Castroism.
- Steve Moore: You can't Big Dig yourself out of a hole.
