Video: Interview with Mariela Castro (Raul's daughter. Discusses same sex marriage, SRS, Obama)

[IndianaGreen]

Mariela: The United States deserves a President like Obama. She also discusses AIDS, LGBT rights, socialism.

Video: Interview with Mariela Castro (Raul's daughter. Discusses same sex marriage, SRS)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Video: Interview with Mariela Castro

http://paeditorsblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/video-interview-with-mariela-castro.html

[Hippo_Tron]

1. Very interesting

[IndianaGreen]

2. Not quite the view of the Cuban leadership the MSM wants us to have

I can't imagine Mariela Castro inviting a bigot like Rick Warren to any kind of important ceremony in Cuba, much less give him a platform of any kind to spew his shit.

[Mika]

3. I've met here.

Shaken her hand after hearing her speak, standing-in for her uncle at a health care seminar in Havana in the 90's.

Brilliant, and tactful. A down to earth person who's unafraid to push forward with the next generation of Cuba's revolution.

[Lightning Jack]

4. perhaps we should all chip in and get you a ticket to Cuba

you seem like you would rather be there.

[Jennicut]

5. There are human rights problems in Cuba

Per wikipedia:

"The Cuban government has been accused of numerous human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and extra-judicial executions.<130> Dissidents complain of harassment and torture.<131> While the Cuban government placed a moratorium on capital punishment in 2001, it made an exception for perpetrators of an armed hijacking 2 years later. Groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued reports on Cuban prisoners of conscience.<132> Opponents claim the Cuban government represses free expression by limiting access to the Internet.<133>

Human Rights Watch claims that the true number of political prisoners may be understated.<134> According to them, political prisoners, along with the rest of Cuba's prison population, are confined to jails with substandard and unhealthy conditions.<134>

In the last weeks of March 2003 the Cuban government sentenced 75 members of the opposition to prison terms of up to 28 years. The activists were charged with "disrespect" toward the Revolution, “treason,” and “giving information to the enemy”.<135><136>

The numbers of recognized political prisoners varies over time. All former political prisoners are subject to arbitrary re-arrest.<137> Political arrests continue.<138>

The Ladies in White are the wives and relatives of a group imprisoned in 2003 for collusion with the United States and attempting to overthrow the Cuban government.

Racial progress has eroded in the last few years."

Its not communism or socialism, its a dictatorship and any effort to dress it up as otherwise is ridiculous. In the US there is discrimination and we have problems like every country does but in no way is Cuba an ideal. Perhaps only in the rights of the LGBT community.

[Mika]

6. Wikipedia is not a trustworthy place to get reliable info on Cuba.

War of words: website can't define Cuba
http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y06/may06/10e4.htm

What's a neutral point of view? The Cuba entry in the online reference site Wikipedia shows just how difficult it is for the volunteer-run website to tackle politically charged subjects.

By Pablo Bachelet, [e-mail]. Posted on Wed, May. 03, 2006.

WASHINGTON - One editor complained that Havana sympathizers were transforming a scholarly enterprise into ''their own private Fidel Castro fan page.'' A user was tossed out after threatening to sue another for libel.

The fuss is over the Cuba entry in Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia created, edited and administered entirely by volunteers with the altruistic purpose of becoming a Web-based knowledge repository for humanity.

But the Cuba entry, like those on President Bush and abortion, has been snared in intense political divisions over everything from the impact of U.S. sanctions on the communist-ruled island to whether it should have a separate section on its human rights record. Russia and North Korea do not.

There have been so many dueling edits -- 30 entries on April 27 alone -- that the article has been placed off-limits to first-time or unregistered users. The article has notices alerting readers that the neutrality of four sections is under dispute.

A central tenet of Wikipedia is that articles must be written in a neutral point of view. But, as the debate on the talk page attached to the Cuba article demonstrates, neutrality is often in the eye of the beholder.

The debate over Cuba turned intense after Adam Carr, who identifies himself as having a Ph.D. in history from the University of Melbourne in Australia and a gay rights activist, introduced this sentence high in the article: "Cuba is a socialist republic, in which the Communist Party of Cuba is the sole legal political party, and is the only state in the western hemisphere that is not a democracy.''

SPIRITED DEBATE

This prompted responses that went from scholarly citations of political scientists with definitions of democracy, to accusations of not-so-hidden political agendas.

Bruce Hallman wrote that calling Cuba undemocratic is a ''logical fallacy'' because it applies ''capitalistic values'' in the context of a socialist society. 'Might it be possible to write the article without using the word 'democracy' at all?'' he suggested.

''Sorry, comrade, no dice,'' answered Carr, one of the few writers who posts a description of himself. "These comments show quite clearly that you are a communist, or at least someone who actively supports the Castro dictatorship, not just . . . someone who is naïve about the realities of Cuba.''

With neither side giving in, on April 15 a ''mediation cabal'' -- an informal mediator -- joined the discussion. The cabal suggested citing reputable sources to back the Cuba-is-not-a-democracy sentence.

''If we need a citation that Cuba is not a democracy, then maybe we need citation that Cuba is in Latin America,'' retorts CJK, another user.

''Cuba is a dictatorship, plain and simple,'' says Carr, calling Castro's foreign supporters "gullible idiots.''

Failing to produce an agreement, the cabal departed after complaining that several editors were being rude.

Others argued that if the article discusses human rights in Cuba, then it should also point out U.S. human rights abuses. ''We will not be distracted by the well-known communist diversionary tactic of playing bogus moral equivalence games,'' Carr responded.

Scott Grayban, a talk page writer who claims to be a U.S. Air Force veteran, calls Carr ''nothing more than a pro-Bush hate-Cuba type person'' and in a separate e-mail threatened to sue Carr for libel. An administrator promptly banned Grayban for life from editing Wikipedia.

Other users also have been banned, including ''Comandante,'' who has changed the Cuba article more than 700 times. Another participant wrote that Comandante's Internet address suggests he lives in Cuba.

Best to do your own research, rather than relying on one sided propaganda - from either side.