Fidel Castro’s Metamucil must not be working for him lately. Because after making more or less friendly noises at the Obama Administration since January, Fidel went off like a rocket over a comment Obama made at the Summit of the Americas.  At that conference, Obama was suggesting that Cuba might be willing to change some of it’s policies in order to foster a better relationship with the U.S.

Fidel seems to have his fatigues in a wad because of a comment made by Raul Castro, Fidel’s brother who took over the reins of the family oxcart a couple of years ago. Raul said Cuba was willing to sit down with the U.S. and discuss important issues including human rights, freedom of speech, and political prisoners. So he certainly left the impression in the mind of Obama that virtually “everything” was discussable. Uh -uh, not so says Fidel - don’t listen to him, he’s just my kid brother. Sure, he’s 77 years old, but he’s still my kid brother.

Castro now insists that Obama “misinterpreted” his brother’s comments. This is a little like when President Ronald Reagan, in the midst of an Alzheimer’s brain fart, used to say something that seemed to indicate a major change in U.S. policy. Then his handlers would jump in and say the President “misspoke”, so just forget all that good stuff he was babbling about yesterday. This is essentially what Fidel is doing, except instead of blaming his kid brother for screwing up he’s decided to blame Obama instead.

One concession that Obama was hoping for from Cuba was getting them to reduce or eliminate a tax they impose on money sent to Cuban citizens from exiled relatives in the States. Cuba currently slaps a ten percent tax on every dollar that comes into Cuba in that way. Castro claims that tax money goes to help provide free health care and free education, and to subsidize food for his people. But here in America, health care costs are beyond the reach of millions and a college degree can cost $100k. So naturally, we would like Cuba to come to their senses and do things the way we do them in the land of the free.

But let’s not forget those important issues like human rights and freedom of speech. Because in Cuba ordinary citizens can have their phones tapped and their mail read without a court order, where as in the U.S. - well, bad example. Maybe we should talk about freedom of freedom of speech instead. In Cuba, talking smack about government leaders can get you financially and politically destroyed, whereas here in America - oops, that’s the Dan Rather story isn’t it? Another bad example.

Never mind all that, let’s talk about all those political prisoners in Cuba. The ones being held against their will without being charged with any crime, being subjected to torture and being denied access to lawyers. That’s just wrong, and you won’t find any of that here in America. But it’s been happening for years in Cuba - especially in one little corner of the island known as Guantanamo Bay. Whoops - another bad example. Let’s just forget the whole thing.