Thursday, November 02, 2006

Sunny (Thunderstormy) Florida

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"Flaahda" That's where I actually am. Though it doesn't feel like it right now. Sometimes I hear an accent like that, and I also feel the humid, hot weather. Then I know I'm here. Then (right now) it's gloomy, rainy, and just like home. Where people talk normal, recycle, and eat granola.

It's very off and on, that whole recycling thing. But I did finally see someone else in Winn Dixie with granola in their shopping cart.

We're camping right by the Everlglades, about 30 min from Miami, in a town I embarassingly don't know what to call. And I've been here for like 4 nights. It's funny too because I've been talking constantly of finding work, or a campground where I could work to pay for my site, and the opportunity just arose. I just didn't feel like doing any roofing yesterday. It was hot, I was tired, and so I swam and lay by the pool instead.

Then I did some more lounging, just to keep it consistent, you know. You can't just lounge for two-and-a-half days, then just start roofing all of a sudden. Better just keep it simple, 'stay the course' if you will - as Dubya would tell me. Then again appartently we've "never been 'stay the course,'" as he declared on national TV a couple of days ago. Well, then I have never been lounging this much ever before, either.

Whether or not our president is a liar, or we're fighting an illegal war that costs tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars...I can at least admit I have lied before, too. I really have been this lazy and comfortable, and will 'stay the course' by the pool this afternoon. If the sun will ever come back. I do admit, also, to being constantly irritated in this state that's governed by Jeb Bush.

You may know my background, and yes I'm liberal. That might be an understatement to some of you, to whom liberal just means radical and argumentative. So I'll continue to write with a smile, knowing that you disagree about my opinions on Cuba. But hey, I lived there, so whadda you got?

But seriously, The Miami Herald is like a White House propaganda organ spewing out garbage in its seemingly daily anti-Cuba articles. They might as well just change the international section to the 'Today's Reasons Why Castro Should Burn in Hell (As soon as that old bastard will finally just die!) section.' I'm serious, though, and Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales (leaders of Venezuela and Bolivia, respectively) have been in that same 'Burn in Hell' section every day so far.

I'll tell you right now that I did come to the South to get a taste of some culture that's foreign to me. You're right if you tell me I shouldn't expect anything else - 'cause yeah, I guess I came here for this. I guess I'm just lucky I'm a white man who's looking to see why folks can be so ignorant down here. It could be much more uncomfortable; I ain't denying my privilege.

The radio stations are just as bad, and it makes me wonder how amazingly powerful anti-Castro Cubans are around here. And you can exchange the word 'Cubans' with 'money' in that last sentence. That lobby is so very strong in Washington, D.C., too; you can bet on that. Jeb's yapping in George's ear, because Jeb's hearing it in his ear every day (and feeling it in his campaign contributions) . It's not like it's top secret or anything.

Last night on 98.3 FM (a popular Spanish language channel) an artist made the official announcement that, due to overwhelming pressure, he is willing to destroy one of his masterpieces on the behalf of the exile community. He's gonna incinerate his sculpture of Castro's head. Pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

It's not like he's erecting a Saddam Hussein statue on 1600 Pennsylvania, D.C. It's Castro, people, come on.

Let me try to clarify something. Rich folks own mass media outlets, which greatly inform public opinion. With the case of Cuba, the news media have always told us one certain thing. After a while, like my whole lifetime, I took that thing for granted to be fact. Truth is, I did't really know at all. Republican or Democrat, or whoever you are, you can't really disagree. But I do now understand both sides of this argument.

So, examine the case of a country which we are not allowed to enter. They welcome us, but the State Department says it's a big No-No. Why is it illegal? It must be for our own safety, right? After all, Mr. Bush tells me that Cuba is in the (cue scary music) *Axis of Evil*

That's not a joke, Bush honestly grouped Cuba in with Kim Jong-il's North Korea and Hussein's Iraq.

Well I went to Cuba and, oh Jesus, I came back alive! Truth is, there's just got to be some things that those folks in Washington just don't want us to understand. Come on, am I just crazy?