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The Miami Herald has a new columnist, Jackie Bueno Sousa. I think she’s lost. Either that or she’s really trying to cozy up to Miami’s hard right Cuban population — probably the ones with $$ who might give her a job when she loses hers with The Herald (hey, everyone else is getting laid-off at that place…).

I woke up to her column today in the front page of the Metro section and started reading. Her headline drew me to a problem that has many of us very upset these days — top executives of large corporations getting outrageous salaries and bonuses while people under them are being fired, getting paid very little or simply getting screwed by those same highly paid execs. The interesting part was how she came out defending the executives saying we were stereotyping all of them and that only a few are giving the rest a bad name.

Interesting, I thought. But that’s when things really got weird. Three quarters of the way down the column she wrote about a joke she heard in Havana of all places. She traveled around the world in the joke and ends up with Cuba and a Cuban government official and a mansion… well, the joke made no sense and had little connectivity to her column.

I won’t link Bueno Sousa’s column because it’s really not worth the read. And like I just wrote, makes little sense. But it leads me to think that Jackie, who just got a job with The Herald, expects to lose it soon. Maybe a really stupid column like this one, which sticks up for highly paid executives and tries to insult Cuba and Cuban officials, will ingratiate her with some rich hardline Cuban in Miami who might offer her a job.

Oh my, The Miami Herald really has downgraded. Like I mentioned in an earlier comment, it’s sad.
Alvaro F. Fernandez

03-16-2009

I recently read that the new baseball stadium idea for the Florida Marlins is now on hold till 2011. The Marlins had planned on moving in and start playing baseball at their new home in Little Havana at the site of the old (now demolished) Orange Bowl. The glitch: the back and forth of how much money will be afforded the Marlins from taxpayers (by way of the city, county and state) to make a retractable roof stadium a reality.

We’re talking somewhere in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars. Don’t be surprised if that figure goes to at least a billion by the time this is through. And the fact is that there are numerous politicians fighting to make this a reality for the Marlins. The holdup seems to be that the politicians pushing for this are not the bravest… with the economy in the tank there is so much pushing you can do in public in order to help build a palace with taxpayer dollars for a billionaire owner in a sport where shitty players must survive on a measly million or so a year.
In the meantime, social programs for the most needy (the elderly, children from impoverished families, and so many others), dollars for educational programs, health care solutions et al suffer from lack of state funds…

But at times there seems to be more debate regarding the Marlins stadium than the real problems we face here in South Florida. Priorities, priorities, who gives a rat’s ass about what’s really important in this town?
I say build the stadium; I love baseball! But don’t you dare use my money, dammit!

If they’re going to waste it, do so on some old man who needs medication that keeps him from eating. Or spend it on a child in East Little Havana who might need tutoring in school — being cut because there are no funds.

Alvaro F. Fernandez

By MARK LANDLER
New York Times
Published: November 23, 2008

WASHINGTON ­ With the election of Barack Obama, the United States has a fresh chance to reinvigorate its relations with Latin America, according to a new report that recommends Washington overhaul its drug policies at home and pursue a rapprochement with Cuba.

The report, compiled by prominent former policy-makers from the United States and Latin America and scheduled for release on Monday by the Brookings Institution, called on the new administration to put Latin America at the center of its foreign policy radar screen.

Click here to read the complete article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/washington/24latin.html?_r=1&ref=world

NY Times has an article on the Florida everglades involving a $1.7 billion buyout the U.S. government is giving the Fanjul family. The Times does not mention that the Fanjuls are one of the principle promoters of the Cuban embargo and the Helms-Burton law, along with Bacardi (sugar = rum) and CANF.

The Fanjuls are also the reason that Americans pay 50% more than the world price for sugar and arguably the reason that we consume vast amounts of high fructose corn syrup which is linked to the obesity and diabetes epidemics. The Fanjul family gives vast amounts of campaign contributions to both the democrats and republicans. The
back room deals taking place regarding the Everglades are in violation of Florida’s sunshine laws but rest assured it will all be win-win for the Fanjuls: they will give up certain portions of the Everglades but will still own huge tracts that are prime for
development.

Florida Deal for Everglades May Help Big Sugar

By Mary Williams Walsh

IN June, Gov. Charlie Crist announced that Florida would buy one of the state’s two big sugar enterprises, the United States Sugar Corporation. He billed the purchase as a “jump-start” in the environmental restoration of the Everglades, which cane growers are accused of polluting with fertilizer runoff.

But in the end, the $1.7 billion buyout, scheduled to be completed in early 2009, may also prove to be a financial boon to the state’s remaining sugar superpower, Florida Crystals.

One of the country’s wealthiest families, the Fanjuls of Palm Beach, controls Florida Crystals and today touches virtually every aspect of the sugar trade in the United States.

Click here to continue reading this NY Time article

Earlier this week U.S. bishops asked the U.S. government to lift its ban on remittances and travel to Cuba, even temporarily, in light of the crisis caused by recent hurricanes.

The request was made in a September 10 letter from Cardinal Francis George, OMI, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, to President George Bush. The letter follows.

Dear Mr. President:

In light of the devastation and humanitarian disaster caused by recent hurricanes in Cuba and the efforts of extended families, friends and organizations to reach those in need, I urge you to suspend — even temporarily — Treasury and Commerce Department restrictions and licensing requirements for humanitarian travel and remittances by American citizens and assistance by not-for-profit organizations.

At times of crisis, there are simple and basic acts of charity on which people rely. Churches, as well as governments, urge people to reach out and respond with generosity to those in desperate need. The United States has a tradition of such assistance for which it can be rightly proud. At this time, all should be done to facilitate humanitarian assistance, be it through institutions like Catholic Relief Services, or through the generosity of individuals moved by the misfortune of their brothers and sisters. Removing restrictions on remittances and travel to Cuba are a necessary step which I urge you to take without delay.

USCCB has long-opposed U.S. sanctions on Cuba because of their failure to foster greater freedom, democracy and respect for life. In our judgment, restrictions on remittances and travel to Cuba, especially by family members, are onerous and counterproductive. Under current circumstances, they are particularly unjustifiable and need to be relaxed.

In prayerful support for your efforts to assist all those affected by these ongoing weather emergencies, I remain.

Sincerely,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
President
SOURCE U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

What appeared in the Glen Greenwald Slate blog on Saturday:

Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than “fire code violations,” and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.

To read more click here

President George W. Bush is insisting that “the sovereign and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected.” The statement by the American president came after Russian President Dimitri A. Medvedev said Thursday that Russia would act as an international guarantor of the two pro-Russian enclaves at the center of the crisis with Georgia.

It’s tough to take Bush seriously. There are sovereign lands across the globe able to make the same statement against many of Bush’s actions on the world stage since 2000. Or has George forgotten Iraq?

Alvaro F. Fernandez

By Al Kamen
Taken from the Washington Post

Many Americans worry these days about the state of the economy. Some
are concerned about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still others fret
about environmental matters.

But this is a big country, with enough important problems for just
about everyone to ponder. Take this July 8 e-mail from the office of
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.).

“As Members of the Cuba Democracy Caucus,” the message to various Hill
aides said, “your bosses are cordially invited to a meeting with
officials from the State Department and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Officials from State and Treasury will include Bisa Williams, Coordinator for State’s Office of Cuban Affairs, and Barbara Hammerle,
OFAC Deputy Director. The meeting is at 10:15 AM this Thursday, July 10
in 2244 Rayburn HOB. However, we may need to move to a larger room
depending on expected attendance. I will keep you posted of any room
changes.”

What’s the trouble? “This meeting was scheduled at the request of
Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart,” the invite said, “to discuss the very
troubling granting of a Treasury/OFAC license to a little league team
to travel to Cuba in August. I have included links to two newspaper
articles that provide details on the issue.”

Click here to keep reading

A new analysis of congressional races puts U.S. Rep. Lincoln
Diaz-Balart - the last Republican with any territory in Broward - in
possible jeopardy in November’s election.

The widely watched ranking of key congressional races assembled by the Rothenberg Political Report
puts Diaz-Balart, the Miami Republican with about one-fifth of his
district in southwest Broward, on the list of incumbents who might have
problems.

The district is listed as “lean Republican.” But that’s not entirely good news for Diaz-Balart.

Raul Martinez Interview

Miami Orange Bowl & Future Marlins Stadium P.1