I agree. On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 9:26 PM, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net>wrote:
> > > Sure, but, bad as things are here in many ways, it's infinitely preferable > to the Castro regime. Still, like it or not, it wasn't our place to try and > take him from his dad. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mr. Worf" <hellomahog...@gmail.com> > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 11:44:58 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Cuban Government Releases Votes of Teenaged > Elian Gonzalez > > > > There is a lot of propaganda here too. > > On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 8:34 PM, Keith Johnson > <keithbjohn...@comcast.net>wrote: > >> >> >> Well, I'm not happy that little Elian is being indoctrinated into the >> Communist party of Cuba, nor that he's used as a propaganda tool for the >> government. But i also know that returning him to his father was the right >> thing to do. There was no real reason for his legal, biological father to be >> denied custody of his son--the late mother's feelings notwithstanding. While >> I understand his relatives and other Cubans wanting him to enjoy the >> freedoms of America, they didn't have a leg to stand on in this case. Elian >> wasn't abused, he loved his father, and, reports to the contrary, he wasn't >> starving. We can't start breaking the bonds of family across international >> waters just because we don't like the governmental system under which a >> child may be raised. >> >> I also must say I found all the wailing and teary-eyed celebs, ex-pats, >> and Americans decrying his "horrible" future a bit irritating, given all the >> children living here in the States who could use some of that concern. >> A lady at my old job was extremely upset with me when I said he should go >> back to Cuba. >> "But Keith, he want even have milk to drink there!" she cried, quoting >> that curiously oft-stated "fact". >> I replied, "I can take you to half a dozen spots not twenty miles away >> right here in Atlanta where black kids don't have milk, bread, or eggs", I >> replied, "and I've *never* heard you utter one word about wanting to help >> them". >> The horrified look on her face as she walked away was memorable. She >> rarely spoke to me after that... >> >> Oh--and what's up with this Yahoo story talking about a "paramilitary" >> outfit "menacing" Elian? They weren't menacing the boy, they were simply >> following orders to retrieve him. Menacing would connote intentionally >> trying to threaten, frighten, bully, or hurt him... >> >> ******************************************************** >> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100406/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1481_4 >> Cuban government releases photos of teenaged Elian Gonzalez >> Ten years ago this month, the saga of a Cuban boy named Elian >> Gonzalezcaptivated the nation and much of the world. Elian, 6, was found >> floating on >> an inner tube off the coast of Florida, after his mother drowned trying to >> reach America. >> >> The Cuban immigrant community in Florida embraced the boy as a symbol of >> the struggle of ordinary Cubans to flee the oppression of Fidel Castro's >> communist regime, and rallied behind the boy's extended family in Miami, >> which sought custody of young Elian. >> >> But U.S. immigration officials insisted that the boy be returned to his >> father in Havana. Agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service >> conducted an armed raid on Elian's adoptive Miami home - yielding a >> powerful >> image<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=12f5917sp/*http://pub.tv2.no/multimedia/na/archive/00188/Elian_Gonzalez_blir_188999c.jpg>of >> paramilitary forces in America menacing a frightened 6-year-old. >> Florida's Cuban immigrant community brandished that infamous photo as a >> reminder of what they considered American power effectively doing the >> bidding of a heartless Castro government. >> >> A decade later, however, there are new photos of a nearly grown-up Elian >> Gonzalez<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/news/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100405/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_elian_gonzalez>- >> and they present a very different kind of propaganda image. >> >> >> <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/news/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/*http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//100405/481/urn_publicid_ap_org_f9178cda03e14bf9a035dd63d5a7a82c/> >> (*AP*) >> >> The new pictures show a serious-looking 16-year-old sporting a closely >> cropped haircut, wearing an olive-green military school uniform with red >> shoulder patches, as he attends a Young Communist Union meeting. The >> Cuban government press released the images under the none-too-subtle >> headline<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=129oe16c6/*http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/06/elian-gonzalez-cuba-picture>"Young >> Elian Gonzalez defends his revolution in the youth >> congress." >> >> Since winning Elian's return to Cuba in 2000, the Castro regime has >> closely tracked the boy and his father. (Indeed, Cuban State Security has a >> monitoring station next to their home.) In his homeland, Elian Gonzalezis >> hailed as a national hero who embodies the triumph of Cuba over the >> United States. Every few years, the Cuban government has floated news >> updates and photographs trumpeting Elian's progress as a model young citizen >> of the Castro regime. >> >> In 2004, NBC's Keith Morrison traveled to >> Cuba<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=1159rdlhd/*http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5540113>to >> interview Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, and filmed footage of a >> communist museum that houses a bronze statue of Elian raising a clenched >> fist. After Elian's return home, his father was made a member of the >> Cuban National >> Assembly<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=123ab3ul6/*http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/17/world/main4185799.shtml>, >> and Castro has been known to show up at Elian's birthday parties and school >> graduation ceremonies. In 2005, in an interview with CBS' Bob >> Simon<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=12659e24k/*http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/28/60minutes/main888950.shtml>for >> "60 Minutes," Elian referred to Castro "not only as a friend, but also >> as a father." In 2008, Elian joined Cuba's Young Communist Union. >> >> While Cuba has played up Elian Gonzalez's symbolic value in stoking >> nationalist sentiment, he still remains a more divisive figure in the >> United States, provoking fierce reactions on the American left and right. >> After the latest batch of photos went public Monday, the American >> Thinker weighed >> in<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=12g3f96pp/*http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/04/elian_gonzales_10_years_later.html>with >> a rallying cry from the right, no doubt seconded widely in the Cuban >> immigrant community: >> >> If Elian had been granted asylum, today he would be a teenager preparing >> to go to college with every opportunity for success ahead of him. Instead, >> on the cusp of adulthood, Elian poses for propaganda photos sandwiched >> between Cuban army soldiers attending the Union of Young Communists congress >> in Havana...The youthful Gonzalez should have been wrapped in the America >> flag. Instead a boy who once represented the quest for the God given right >> to be free, waves a Cuban flag symbolizing poverty, oppression, >> authoritarianism and misinformation. >> >> >> >> --Brett Michael Dykes is a national affairs writer for Yahoo! News >> >> >> >> > > > -- > Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! > Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ > > > > > -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
