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Charlize Theron on Cuba
Newsmax ^ | 5/12/07 | Humberto Fontova

Posted on 02/13/2007 7:45:08 AM PST by slickeroo

Charlize Theron on Cuba

Humberto Fontova/ Monday, Feb. 12, 2007

A Hollywood A-lister (Charlize Theron) recently traveled to Cuba and returned without the paeans to its Stalinist regime that habitually issue from her colleagues after such visits.

Pigs worldwide started sprouting wings.

During her Cuban visit Ms. Theron helped produce a documentary ("East of Havana") on Cuban hip-hop artists that cast the Castro regime in a negative light.

Pigs worldwide started flapping and taxiing down the runway.

Last week on ABC's "Good Morning America," Charlize Theron said: "I think the (Cuban) younger generation is starting to say, 'You know what? It doesn't work. We're not happy. We want to have freedom of speech. We want to be able to travel.'"

By now every pig from Bangkok to Stockholm was galloping madly and flapping furiously while nearing the end of his runway.

During a subsequent interview on CNN, anchor Rick Sanchez started to ask Theron about the lack of freedoms in Cuba. She interrupted the question with the following: "I would argue that there's a lack of freedom in America."

Pigs worldwide promptly cocked their ears and started slowing down both their hoofbeats and wingbeats.

"I seem to recall," explained the Academy Award winning Best Actress, "some time ago some reporters being fired from their jobs for speaking up on television about how they felt about the war."

"But do you think the lack of freedoms in Cuba are parallel to the lack of freedoms in the United States?" asked CNN's Sanchez.

"Well, I would," answered Theron. Pigs worldwide now stopped flapping and cupped their ears in rapt attention. "I would compare those two," continued Theron. "Yes, definitely."

Inches from the end of the runway pigs worldwide dug in their heels and jammed their engines into reverse, thus remaining earthbound. "AH!" they squealed. "Now this is more like it!" Their wings retracted and they returned to their wallows, grunting contentedly.

After many nights of scrutiny and meditation, the best my team of analysts can determine is that Charlize Theron equates the policies of a regime that incarcerated political prisoners at a higher rate than Stalin's, that machine guns to death entire families for attempting to travel abroad, that mandates (under penalty of prison or firing squad) what its subjects, read, say, eat, earn, eat (both substance and amount), where they live, travel or work — she equates this regime with a government under which a private corporation owned by stockholders terminated some employees for violating company guidelines.

Who in Hollywood could argue with that? By Hollywood standards her logic seems airtight.

Meanwhile, back in the studio, Rick Sanchez remarked to Theron: "It sounds like you don't have a very high opinion of the United States."

Theron retorted that she actually lives in the U.S., so he was clearly wrong. As Sanchez continued to seek clarification of her comments Theron interrupted with, "I want to make out with you right now." Amazingly, this dust-up occurred on CNN "Castro's a hell of a guy!" Ted Turner had gushed to a Harvard audience in 1997. "You'd like him!"

Within weeks of Ted's comments at Harvard, CNN had a bureau in Havana, the first ever granted to a U.S. network. Bureau chief Lucia Newman assured viewers, "We will be given total freedom to do what we want and to work without censorship."

Hard-hitting stories immediately followed. To wit: CNN soon featured Fidel's office in its "Cool Digs" segment of CNN's "Newsstand." "When was the last time you saw a cup full of pencils on the boss's desk?" asked perky CNN anchor Steven Frazier. "And they do get used — look at how worn down the erasers are ... Years ago, our host worked as an attorney, defending poor people ... He's Fidel Castro, Cuba's leader since 1959!"

Rick Sanchez was born in Cuba and knows about conditions on the island. But for his background, Theron might have sailed though the interview a la Hillary Clinton with Katie Couric. But for Sanchez' impertinent behavior Theron might have forsaken her riposte, which was obviously both brilliant and germane, dug out Hollywood's thumb-eared script on Castro/Cuba and started reciting the lines. Among the choicest: "Fidel I love you. We both have the same initials. We are both powerful men. And we both use our power for good" (Francis Ford Coppola).

"Castro is a genius and Cuba is a paradise" (Jack Nicholson).

"Socialism works. I think Cuba might prove that" (Chevy Chase).

"Castro is very selfless and moral, one of the world's wisest men" (Oliver Stone).

"If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro!" (Harry Belafonte).

"It was an experience of a lifetime to sit only a few feet away from him (Castro)" Kevin Costner.

"The eight most important hours of my life," Stephen Spielberg describing his dinner with Castro.

OK, so Cuba's a repressive place — but no more repressive than the U.S. Charlize Theron made this clear. So let's give her time. As a political philosopher, she's obviously not shoulder to shoulder with Hollywood's best and brightest just yet. But she's off to a promising start.

Humberto Fontova is the author of "Fidel; Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant," a Conservative Book Club Main Selection.


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: dimbulb
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To: slickeroo

Well, apparently her role as "Mr. F" on Arrested Development was based more on reality than anyone guessed.


61 posted on 02/13/2007 10:28:52 AM PST by Starter
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To: slickeroo
There's only one reason anybody ever listens to her.


62 posted on 02/13/2007 1:11:38 PM PST by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: slickeroo
Cuba's Classless Society

The London Telegraph takes a look at the reality behind the rhetoric that surrounds Fidel Castro's Cuba and sees a simmering tension between the haves and the have-nots on the island. Far from being a workers' paradise free from class distinctions, the Cuban currency games have created an underclass that breeds resentment:


In the hushed tones that all Cubans adopt when they talk about their ailing leader Fidel Castro, who six months ago was forced to hand over the reins of power to his younger brother Raul after undergoing emergency surgery for intestinal bleeding, Carlos explained the continuing frustration of a nation still firmly under Communist rule.
"Fidel has starved us," he whispered. "Yes, there is a lack of food but it is more than that. We are starving for information, for opportunity, for freedom. We want to enjoy the same things as those people over there," he said as a fresh batch of tourists spilled out of the doors of a tour bus.

Cubans struggle to survive on an average wage of less than £10 a month to supplement the state rations which provide them with basics such as rice and beans and either one small bar of soap or tube of toothpaste a month.

Visiting foreigners can spend almost double that on a taxi ride to the airport or a meal in one of Old Havana's state-run restaurants.


Fidel is not the only dying principal in Cuba. Those unlucky enough to have no access to the convertible currency that Cuba launched after the end of the Cold War to boost tourism have sunk further into poverty. Workers at tourist traps get paid in the CUC rather than the peso, which gives them exponentially more buying power, creating an inequality that grates on Cuban nerves.

As one dissident told the Telegraph, Cuba has created a system where taxi drivers and bellhops get more compensation than professionals such as doctors and teachers. With pesos next to worthless, engineers have to starve as waiters become relatively wealthy. In such a system, no one has any incentive to work in the professions, and the brain drain threatens Cuba with a professional collapse.

Castro has even indulged in gentrification to build the tourist business. He has displaced families from run-down tenements in order to renovate them into high-priced hotels and restaurants. The poor can no longer afford to even eat where they once lived, instead dependent on their weekly ration of rice and beans.

Who funds this deterioration? Tourists do, and they come from everywhere but the United States, which still enforces a decades-old economic embargo. The US comes in for plenty of criticism for its refusal to engage with the Cubans on trade, and perhaps for good reason -- but this demonstrates that Castro is most responsible for the sad state of the Cuban economy. He has done what he once castigated Fulgencio Batista for doing: prostituting Cubans for the sake of rich touristas that exploit their misery, wittingly or unwittingly.

The Telegraph quotes Cubans as hoping that Raul Castro will bring in some economic reforms. They'd be better off praying that both Castros end their days soon, and that they can create a democratic government that allows Cubans to direct their own destinies. Perhaps they can also pray that tourists find someplace else to spend their money, rather than fueling Castro's ego and filling his pockets.

-- Ed Morrissey, CaptainsQuartersBlog.com

.

63 posted on 02/13/2007 2:17:25 PM PST by OESY
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To: Dianna
Andy Garcia, "The Lost City."

I've seen it. Excellent film.
64 posted on 02/13/2007 2:23:30 PM PST by irishjuggler
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To: slickeroo

Miss Theron has a million-dollar body and a ten-cent brain.


65 posted on 02/13/2007 2:24:53 PM PST by irishjuggler
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To: slickeroo

Yet another example of blonde, beautiful, but stupid.

Oh well.


66 posted on 02/13/2007 2:25:43 PM PST by Constitution Day
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To: PBRSTREETGANG

Guess which end is the intelligent one.


67 posted on 02/13/2007 2:48:10 PM PST by abigailsmybaby
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To: Dudoight
Take the web address of your pic and insert it between the quotation marks ("") in these HTML tags: [img src=""], substituting these brackets <> for the ones in the example [].

Hope that helps.
68 posted on 02/13/2007 11:15:02 PM PST by Bratch
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To: abigailsmybaby
One end is certainly more relevant than the other one.
69 posted on 02/13/2007 11:18:28 PM PST by Bratch
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To: slickeroo

Rick Sanchez could get rid of Castro by driving to Cuba and running him over with his car.


70 posted on 02/13/2007 11:22:12 PM PST by Rome2000 (Peace is not an option)
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To: Bratch

[img src="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2602403090061957772PhfGvO"]

practising on you...let's see if this works.


71 posted on 02/14/2007 9:08:37 AM PST by Dudoight
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To: Dudoight

Well...it didn't. But thanks anyway.


72 posted on 02/14/2007 9:09:19 AM PST by Dudoight
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To: Dudoight
Replace these brackets "[ ]" with these "< >".

"<" + "img src" + "=" + "http://www.born-today.com/Today/pix/judd_ashley2.jpg" + ">" =


73 posted on 02/15/2007 5:53:05 AM PST by Bratch
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To: Bratch
Here goes!
74 posted on 02/15/2007 6:21:53 AM PST by Dudoight
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To: Bratch
Here goes! again....
75 posted on 02/15/2007 6:23:18 AM PST by Dudoight
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To: Bratch

Well...I just don't have the touch. Thanks for being so patient with me. LOL!


76 posted on 02/15/2007 6:24:08 AM PST by Dudoight
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To: Dudoight

That picture is from a web page using an Adobe Flash Player, not an actual jpg file.

That's why it isn't working.


77 posted on 02/15/2007 6:27:25 AM PST by Bratch
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To: Bratch

Try using this one.

http://www.senorcafe.com/archives/RWR.jpg


78 posted on 02/15/2007 6:29:01 AM PST by Bratch
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To: Bratch

I really appreciate your time and patience with this. Thanks again.


79 posted on 02/15/2007 6:39:39 AM PST by Dudoight
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