2004 - " Who's the toughest guy I know? Castro. . . He's a bull ... dictator and everybody's against him and he still survives, has power. ... I don't admire his philosophy, I admire him."
2004 - "But often times I'm asked: Why? Why do you care what happens outside of America?"
COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
FROM THE CHURCH OF INEFFABLE STUPIDITY:
There's something about this country that scares and confuses me. A goodly, godly percentage of this country's population seems to worship stupidity and willful ignorance.
Case in point:
Rick Santorum.
It took yet another serious illness for this major league doofus to finally understand that a run for president cannot succeed if you only rely on prayer, and if you promote ideas and ideals that will both piss and turn off more than 50% of the population.
Michelle Bachmann
I am still shocked (and awed) that she could win Iowa. This is a walking, talking, unthinking moranette, a woman who is so far off the track that my only explanation for her campaign is that there exists a small, very rich, and extremely powerful people who actually run this country. Their only common denominator? An extremely wicked sense of humor.
George Bush, the Wth
One oft stated reason for his victory over a far more qualified Al Gore was visceral, emotional, in nature. Bush voters were far more interested in having a beer with Bush than a chat with Gore. People admired his faith, his love of god, and dammit, THAT is the answer right there.
Each one of these village idiots willfully put their delusional faith ahead of any rational thinking about any serious issue. Religion, it seems drives stupidity and ignorance.
When you think about it (That's a joke, for you true believers here) organized religions have been extremely afraid of science and learning, and have done everything in their power to prevent education or knowledge from becoming broadly distributed to the public at large. While Christianity's war on science dates back far longer than Galileo (bible ownership was once a crime, because people were not permitted to learn by themselves), other religions are just as culpable and guilty of such crimes against humanity. Just look at AIDS, cloning, stem cell research, today, and when you look more carefully, those attacking and seeking to prevent progress on each of those issues, you see a religious freak behind it.
Well, let me be blunt. Science, the scientific method, and rational thinking - these are the gifts that humanity must use to save itself, to better itself and to be able to meet our destiny. NOT religion. In fact, religion, especially organized religion kills. When it doesn't kill, it destroys brain cells and preclude rational thought. Lettuce prey, indeed.
Now, how does this relate to Ozzie?
First, let's think about what Ozzie really said. "I love Fidel Castro."
On prior occasions, he admitted that he thought he was courageous, that he stood up to everyone in the world, and that he succeeded where his enemies had failed.
Now what the fuck is wrong with that?
Absolutely nothing. Castro did not wipe out millions of his own people. Castro did not start world wars. For all his faults, and there were many of them, Castro managed to confound and outlive a super power which faces his shores, despite the fact that that super power has never, not once, since 1918 had a year in which we did not use our military for one reason or another. We even invaded several of his neighbors, and succeeded in deposing those nearby rulers who managed to anger us. Especially if they won democratic elections. And still he survived. And still he managed to raise his country's literacy rate from 65-70% to 98%.
Castro survived Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush, despite every one of them stating it was in America's best interests to have a Castro free Carib.
Besides, doesn't christianity teach people to love thy neighbors, to turn the other cheek, and to love their enemies? It just strikes me that those people most upset about what Ozzie said just happen to be christian conservative GOP voters, which seems par for the course. Ignorance of the facts has never stopped them before. It certainly won't stop them now.
But a five game suspension for Ozzie? Now, simply for speaking his mind, that is Ineffably Stupid.