More on Castro's machinations

Mary Anastasia O'Grady breaks it down.

Aid has already arrived from allies like Russia and Spain, but none has the vast relief resources the nearby U.S. can muster. However, Fidel wants lines of credit from the U.S. that will help him hold onto power, and without that he says, Yankees go home.
This is largely bravado posturing for Cubans. The U.S. government is giving $1.65 million to nongovernmental organizations working in the disaster areas, and has authorized more than $5 million in private NGO donations; that total could go to $10 million. None of this is out of the ordinary. Americans are the single largest humanitarian providers to Cuba; in 2007, private donations totaled $240 million.
Fidel doesn't want the U.S. getting credit for stepping up to help. But that's not his only problem with the status quo. More urgent for him is that relief efforts come from the regime, which, when not engaged in such kind-hearted work, is busy torturing political prisoners. To wield that kind of power he needs to borrow money, which he is not likely to pay back. Americans have shown that they are ready to help hurricane victims, but loans that will prolong the power of a despotic and incompetent regime is no way to relieve Cuban misery.

Olympic Wrap-Up

I really enjoyed these Olympics. Here are some interesting links:

• Sports Illustrated has a gallery of great moments from the Olympics.
• Dave Barry has two funny columns about his experiences in China: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/dave-barry/story/637133.html
  http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/639993.html
• A remembrance of the fantastic 4x100 Swimming relay.
• Read the first paragraph of this Peter King NFL article to see how some other athletes respond to Phelps.

Quick parting thought? Nation does matter. God bless the USA.

Kobe & American Exceptionalism

In an interview with Cris Collingsworth, Kobe Bryant shared his feelings about receiving the Team USA uniform:

The Los Angeles Laker went on to call the U.S. "the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it's just a sense of pride that you have; that you say, 'You know what? Our country is the best.'"

Dang straight. Collingsworth asked:

Is that a cool thing to say in this day and age? That you love your country, and that you're fighting for the red, white and blue? It seems sort of like a day gone by."
To which Mr. Bryant replied: "No, it's a cool thing for me to say. I feel great about it, and I'm not ashamed to say it. I mean, this is a tremendous honor."

Nice.

Awesome Video Saturday XXXXXIV

I have really been enjoying these Olympics. I saw a post on a blog that poo-pooed the Olympics on the grounds that the writer preferred to admire people for their intellectual prowess than their physical abilities. Whatever. Watching something like this, Michael Phelps phenomenal race for his 7th gold medal, such a demonstration of tremendous perseverance and skill is truly inspiring.

This video provides some good reportage of the vent, albeit using still photos. NBC has a pretty tight leash on their videos, so this is the best I can do.

SPOTD #142

Its been over a month since the last SPOTD e-mail, but I have been posting here and at In Rare Form. More than anything else, I want you to read the story of Lopez Lomong, an American runner from Sudan. His story is part of what the Olympics are really about.

Today's phrase:
In recognition of the beginning of the Olympics, a quote from Samuel Johnson.

Actual:
Las grandes obras son hechas no con la fuerza, sino con la perseverancia.

Phonetic with emphasis on bold syllable:
Lahs grahn-daze oh-brahs sewn a-chahs no cone lah fwair-sah, see-no cone lah pare-sair-vare-ahn-see-ah.

Translation:
Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.

Movies
I've seen four movies in the theater lately and all have been worth the price of admission, which is not always the case.
The Dark Knight: One of the best movies I've seen in a long time, period. Definitely the best comic book movie ever made. I plan to see it again tonight with Lacy.
Wall-E: Beautifully crafted, a good story.
The Incredible Hulk: I actually enjoyed The Hulk but felt this was a simpler, superior iteration. I don't know if it made enough money for a sequel. I hope it did.
Get Smart: I laughed out loud many times at this movie. It exceeded my moderate expectations.

Music
Coldplay: Fantastic new album. Listening to it actually enhances my enjoyment of their earlier work.
Weezer: I don't love it. It's just aight. I loved the black album right away. Still, there are some good songs.
Jason Mraz: Never paid much attention to him, but bought this album on a whim. I like it a lot. Kind of jazzy. Good variation in the song styles. The missus likes it.

Truck Laser
It's a laser. On a truck. What could be better than that? A shark with a laser.

YA
Who decides that a young adult novel is a young adult novel? Hint: It's not young adults.

Oh behave!
At the last Winter Games Bode Miller behaved like an idiot. The U.S. is trying to be more careful this time.

Link of the Day
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?

Tourist or Expert?

Does Obama's trip to Europe and the Middle East/Afghanistan give him credibility in foreign policy? In today's Wall Street Journal Richard Allen makes a case against that idea.

What's very telling to me is the way that Allen describes the pre-presidential visits abroad made by previous presidents-to-be. He uses the word "quietly." There is nothing quiet about Obama's trip, nothing subtle. Other than the political imagery which is useful in the campaign context there is no real strategic value to a trip that puts a front-running candidate out in front, exposing him as a man with no secrets.

In foreign policy secrecy has its benefits, even with our allies. I don't think Obama realizes this, but that just illustrates naivete. In the interest of international cooperation and goodwill Obama is giving the world a sense for who he is. Unfortunately it may ultimately be at the expense of our own best interests

SPOTD #141

This edition comes to you on a beautiful day in sunny Marco Island, Florida. Related news relates to the potential danger of wearing flip-flops too much.

Visit the blog for more interesting content.

Today's Phrase:
From Thomas Jefferson:

Actual:
El Dios que nos dio la vida nos dio la libertad al mismo tiempo.

Phonetic with emphasis on bold syllable:
Ell Dyose kay nose dyo lah vee-dah nose dyo lah lee-bare-tahd all meese-moe tyem-poe.

Translation:
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

Wall-E
We saw this movie last weekend, taking Joseph for his second time at the movies. It was great fun and a great film. My friend Jake (who works at Pixar) sent me this great article about the director Andrew Stanton. Stanton talks about how his beliefs influence his filmmaking, and about how what really matters is making a great story.

Graveyards
This is a cool set of pictures of airplanes that have been mothballed or decommissioned. King of haunting.

McKay
Jim McKay was a great, old-school broadcaster. He came from a time when broadcast journalism, especially sports broadcasting was still somewhat new and a sort of insurgent element. Now it is the fat cat, relatively lazy by comparison. This article is a view of a better time.

Delfín
This is old news by now, but the Dolphins have been in a bit of a kerfuffle over the status of All-Pro defensive end Jason Taylor. This is Dave Barry's take on the situation

'08 & Taxes
This is what President Obama would mean for taxes.

Dharma
You have a special opportunity to join the Dharma Initiative. Sign up at Octagon Recruiting for more information.

Link of the Day
Today in Baghdad more than 1,000 servicemen and women participated in the biggest reelistment ceremony in history, Follow the link for more, including video.

Obamania I

Peggy Noonan scares me every once in a while. I get worried that she is slipping into a mode that many commentators fall into as they become olde...er...more seasoned. But then she restores my faith. Today's column is a great one, and it draws together several issues related to Obamania that are worth addressing. Some excerpts:

Barack Obama's biggest draw is not his eloquence. When you watch an Obama speech, you lean forward and listen and think, That's good. He's compelling, I like the way he speaks. And afterward all the commentators call him "impossibly eloquent" and say "he gave me thrills and chills." But, in fact, when you go on the Internet and get a transcript of the speech and print it out and read it--that is, when you remove Mr. Obama from the words and take them on their own--you see the speech wasn't all that interesting, and was in fact high-class boilerplate. (This was not true of John F. Kennedy's speeches, for instance, which could be read seriously as part of the literature of modern American politics, or Martin Luther King's work, which was powerful absent his voice.)
Mr. Obama is magnetic, interacts with the audience, leads a refrain: "Yes, we can." It's good, and compared with Hillary Clinton and John McCain, neither of whom seems really to enjoy giving speeches, it comes across as better than it is. But is it eloquence? No. Eloquence is deep thought expressed in clear words. With Mr. Obama the deep thought part is missing. What is present are sentiments.

-----

Michelle Obama seems keenly aware of her struggles, of what it took to rise so high as a black woman in a white country. Fair enough. But I have wondered if it is hard for young African-Americans of her generation, having been drilled in America's sad racial history, having been told about it every day of their lives, to fully apprehend the struggles of others. I wonder if she knows that some people look at her and think "Man, she got it all." Intelligent, strong, tall, beautiful, Princeton, Harvard, black at a time when America was trying to make up for its sins and be helpful, and from a working-class family with two functioning parents who made sure she got to school.
That's the great divide in modern America, whether or not you had a functioning family, and she apparently came from the privileged part of that divide. A lot of white working-class Americans didn't come up with those things. Some of them were raised by a TV and a microwave and love our country anyway, every day.

Read the whole thing.

Reasons I'm Glad to be American II

This one comes to us from China. It seems that over 200,000(!!!) Chinese are stuck in a train station in Guangzhou, capitol of Guangdong province. Over the next week that number may swell to 600,000(!!!!!!!). The culprit? Bad weather.

On our worst weather day how many people have been stranded in Atlanta? Or Chicago? Or New York? Not that many. The influx of travelers is due to the coming Chinese New Year. Many may be stranded far from family due to inclement weather.

I feel for those people, and feel gratitude for my life here.