This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • Land reform ghosts and FARC’s hostages

    Just as the 49th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s revolution rolls up on us, his legacy is reaching into Hugo Chavez’ Venezuela according to this report from the Miami Herald’s Casto Ocando;

    When Bienvenido Jorajuría could not get into his family’s La Quinta ranch in the fertile region of Yaracuy, in north central Venezuela, the Cuban-born rancher felt a familiar frustration.

    The land was confiscated earlier this year by President Hugo Chávez’s government after armed peasants backed by the national guard invaded it, despite the fact that it was in full production.

    For Jorajuría, it was the second time his family’s land had been expropriated. In 1960, his family’s farm in Matanzas, Cuba, was confiscated by Fidel Castro’s government.

    Funny how most of the US media is skipping right over this story. Just a few months ago, Chavez’ main ally, Islamic Republic’s Mahmoud Ahmidinejad proposed an alliance with the king of land reform – Robert Mugabe (FARS link). The subject of the story recalls the parallels between the seizure of his father’s land in Cuba and his own;

    ”They forced us to provide documents to prove that the property was private as far back as 1850,” said Adivi Ahmad, Bienvenido Jorajuría’s wife, who inherited part of the land in La Quinta, which was purchased by her father in 1947.

    ”Finding these documents was extremely difficult because of Venezuela’s public registry disorder,” Ahmad told El Nuevo Herald.

    Ahmad said it took six months and about $500 to compile and submit the documents, but later those documents ”got lost” in the office in charge of collecting them.

    The Jorajuría story is similar that of other ranch families of Cuban origin in Venezuela.

    Various parts of the story hint at Cuban government involvement in the expropriation particularly of  Cuban expatriots. Dirty pool at it’s dirtiest.

    Chavez’ opponents claim that these “land reform” measures explain much of the shortages of staples in Venezuela;

    ”When Chávez arrived in 1999, we produced 35,000 tons a year of sugar cane,” said Rodríguez, who arrived in Miami in June with his family. He said squatters used death threats to ”expel” him from his own land.

    In 2007, after a series of systematic invasions, Vladimir Rodríguez said he couldn’t harvest anything.

    ”And the ranch was totally lost, unproductive,” said Rodríguez, who is still awaiting a response from the Venezuelan government on the value of his confiscated property. He also is using his Cuban heritage to apply for permanent residency in Miami under the U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act.

    But seein’s how Chavez can’t solve his own domestic problems, he can get his commie buddies at FARC to release their hostages, apparently (AP/Yahoo link);

    President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that he hopes three hostages will be freed by Colombian rebels within hours, and that Venezuela has planes and helicopters ready to retrieve them.
    Â
    “The only thing we need is the authorization of the Colombian government,” Chavez said at a news conference in the presidential palace. “We are ready to activate the humanitarian operation.”

    Chavez said he hoped it would be completed “in the coming hours.”

    But then, Chavez’ extra-Venezuelan image is much more important to him and his allies than Venezuelans’ views. Who cares if Venezuelans can’t get milk, sugar and meat as long as Chavez can score points with the US Bush-hating Left. More on the hostage release press conference at Kate’s hogar.

  • Zapatero & legislated history

    It’s difficult to believe that in this post-Soviet day and age, a liberal democracy in the western world would consider rewriting their history to create an official, government-approved version. But, that’s what is happening in modern Spain. In October, the Spanish parliament passed a “Law of Historical Memory”. No Pasaran’s Joe Noory warned of this impending farce last year;

      Zapatero is exercising a chilling fascist revision of the past. The Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party, Alvino-Mario Fantini reports, is even dispensing pensions to some who make a nice prop for their revision of the Spanish Civil War.

    The law, one of Zapatero’s many electoral promises, will honor the communists and socialists persecuted by Franco’s regime during his 36-year dictatorship.

    Specifically, the proposed law stipulates that the Spanish government will provide 60 million Euros–about $76,244,000–in “pensions, compensation and recognition schemes” to honor the estimated 285,000 (according to historian Hugh Thomas) Republican victims of the Civil War and the post-war dictatorship.

    It says nothing, however, of the nearly 145,000 members of the Nationalist coalition who were killed in action by Republican forces and executed by their militias. In fact, the law will ban all images, symbols and references to Franco and his regime in all public places (though most statues around the country have already been removed).

    Ian Buruma compares Zapatero’s attempt to rewrite history to dictatorships like Red China in the Japan Times;

    There are plausible reasons for enacting such a law. Many people killed by the Fascists during the Spanish Civil War lie unremembered in mass graves. There is still a certain degree of nostalgia on the far right for Franco’s dictatorship. People gathered at his tomb earlier this year chanted “We won the Civil War!,” while denouncing socialists and foreigners, especially Muslims. Reason enough, one might think, for Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to use the law to exorcise the demons of dictatorship for the sake of democracy’s good health.

    But legislation is a blunt instrument for dealing with history. While historical discussion won’t be out of bounds in Spain, even banning ceremonies celebrating bygone days may go a step too far. The desire to control both past and present is, of course, a common feature of dictatorships.

    In the Australian, Buruma continues;

    While the Spanish Civil War was not on par with the Holocaust, even bitter history leaves room for interpretation. Truth can be found only if people are free to pursue it. Many brave people have risked or lost their lives in defence of this freedom. It is right for a democracy to repudiate a dictatorship, and the new Spanish law is cautiously drafted, but it is better to leave people free to express even unsavoury political sympathies, for legal bans don’t foster free thinking, they impede them.Â

    Richard Rahn writes in today’s Washington Times that the law might have the effect of deepening polarization among Spaniards, already divided by language and culture. He points out the under Zapatero’s predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar, Spain became a successful European nation, both economically and politically, once again, but that Zapatero threatens that stability with his socialist game-playing right out of Orwell’s “1984”.

    Beth Twiston Davies (Times Online) joins Joe Noory in the opinion that the Law of Historical Memory is an anti-Catholic swipe;

    Three days before the law of historical memory was passed, nearly 500 of those religious victims were honoured by the Catholic Church in a mass beatification ceremony. The 498 individuals now on the path to sainthood were killed, often after being tortured, in 1934, 1936 and 1937.

    The Vatican described them as “martyrs of the 21st century”. Spanish Catholics such as Alejandro Rodríguez de la Peña, secretary-general of the Asociación Católica de Propagandistas (The Catholic Propagandists’ Association), describe them as innocent victims of the wave of anti-clerical persecution that swept 1930s Spain.

    “The Left wants to portray the martyrs as politicised clerics ,” says Rodríguez. “They don’t want to recognise the fact there was a religious persecution. These were simply Christians who died forgiving their assassins, and were killed out of hatred for the Christian faith.”

    Imagine if the left in the United States succeeds in forbidding the various ceremonies we’ve to which we’ve become accustomed honoring soldiers from both sides in our own Civil War. Suppose for a minute, we succumb to their demonization of those who say that Senator Joe McCarthy turns out to be right about Communists in the State Department and in Congress – and in Hollywood and ban such research and scholarly work.

    Suppose we weren’t allowed to speak out against John Kerry’s “Winter Soldier” testimony of 1971 during his presidential campaign and that the thousands of veterans who gathered outside of the Capitol had been imprisoned for questioning his veracity at those hearings.

    I don’t what the Europeans are thinking when they allow their governments to limit the discussion of unpopular political opinions, but we need to be on guard against imitating them.

  • Merry Christmas to all my new and old friends

     President George W. Bush makes Christmas Eve telephone calls to members of the Armed Forces at Camp David, Monday, Dec. 24, 2007. White House photo by Eric Draper

    President George W. Bush makes Christmas Eve telephone calls to members of the Armed Forces at Camp David, Monday, Dec. 24, 2007. White House photo by Eric Draper

    It’s so hard to believe that another year has passed. A year ago, I was a lonely little blogger mostly ranting to no readers except those who dialed in the wrong “google” terms. This Christmas, I get a few hundred hits everyday – largely from people who’ve bookmarked this humble site. It’s mostly thanks to all of those folks in my blogroll who’ve found some measure of value in my carelessly crafted words.

    First was Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs – who taught me just what a successful blog looks like. The first hour after he linked to my Gathering of Eagles photos generated over a thousand hits – about equal to my total traffic in the previous months.

    Other high traffic bloggers who’ve been great friends to this blog are Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs  and Michele Malkin. Pamela throws up my links every time I send her one, sweetheart that she is. I don’t even have to send links to Michele anymore – I suspect she finds her way over here now and again despite her hectic life. Her linking to me got me invited to join the blogging team at Red Maryland.

    Of course, my very first link was from Crotchety Old Bastard – an old Army buddy from my generation of warriors who I happened to find on a reunion website. We started our blogs at about the same time and he was kind enough to trade links and readers with me. But he didn’t have to do that – I was just glad I found him.

    Two other great friends of this blog, I met (virtually speaking) quite by accident. Bloodthirsty Liberal happened to link to the same story in the Washington Post (back when the Post linked to blogs), and I mistook BTL for a Leftist kind of Liberal. BTL cured me of skimming blogs. Now it’s the first blog I read every morning, and the last one I read at night – that way I begin and end my day with a smile.

    Robin at Chickenhawk Express came into my sights when we were both writing about Adam Kokesh and I found her on Technorati. She got me linked on Flopping Aces and Newsbusters. We’ve emailed several times since and found we had much in common – we both had our respective first grandchildren the same week this year. She sends me ideas for posts – and she always seems to know when my brain has dried up.

    Confederate Yankee sent me a couple of tips once and I knew I’d arrived. Early one morning, during my coffee, while still in my pajamas, I banged out a quick rant about Al Gore and his Nobel Prize. An hour later, I switched on my computer at work to find I’d been linked up by Pajamas Media – I felt so big time.

    Two bloggers I met out here in the real world are Kate and Skye.

    Kate and I went to three protests in two weeks together back in September – my best traffic month to date. She had to pry me off my easy chair to get my lazy butt out – but I’m so glad she did. She also got me involved in the Liberty Alliance and introduced me to another new friend – the elegant and talented Lady Vorzheva.

    I met Skye at one of the protests in September, too. She’s just plain whacky in person – a laugh a minute - and she influenced me to start taking more videos. Now if I can figure out this embedding videos thing…..

    Probably one of the nicest guys I’ve ever had the privilege to exchange emails with is Kamangir the Archer. He’s an Iranian student in Canada that translates Islamic Republic press releases for English-speakers. Like I said, he’s one of the nicest and most talented guys on the internet. 

    Of course, the people who’ve made this year the best year we’ve had in a while are the guys and gals who’re fighting the real battles for those of us who are nestled in our beds and sleeping securely at night – all embodied in Sergeant Grumpy whose blogging from Iraq reminds me of my days as an infantry small unit leader. Without him (and them) who knows what kind of Christmas we’d be celebrating.

    GI Jane was a good friend from a forum I used to frequent who began blogging a few months after I left the forum. We’d slammed back brews a few times and reminisced for hours about the Army. She helped put me on the map during the Scott Thomas Beauchamp thing when she emailed his first sergeant and kindly linked his response here which got me noticed at some of the biggest blogs on the ‘net. 

    Don Carl and I “met” at that same forum years ago – I sold him one of my Tom Clancy autographed first editions. He was kind enough to follow me over here and be a regular commenter, and now co-blogger.

    Others who’ve come over from that old forum on occasion are BARman29, usnretwife and Renwaa. I can’t forget Tricia and Monty from back in the pre-2000 election days when I’d get banned from the History Channel boards nearly every day who’ve stalked me all the way past countless failed forums. I’m honored that you’d find the time to make my thoughts part of your daily lives.

    There are so many people on the internet that have made this last year such a great experience for me, but they’re all in my blogroll. Even if I didn’t mention your name here today, rest assured that I remember which post enticed you to link to me the first time and I still have every email you’ve sent me.

    Those of you who’ve stopped by often without commenting (I know you’re out there), thank you – well, not for being quiet, but for reading. I’m always shocked when I roll up my logs and see how many people have me bookmarked and use RSS feeds to read my words.

    Thank you so very much and I pray that your Christmas is as happy and merry as all ya’all have made my whole year.

  • Clinton (Hearts) Vets – suddenly

    The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire recounts a Hillary speech to veterans in Iowa yesterday;

    Speaking to a crowd of mostly elderly and wheelchair-bound veterans from World War II and the Vietnam War, Mrs. Clinton announced her plans to enact an updated version of the GI Bill of Rights that would expand education, housing and entrepreneurial benefits. (more…)

  • Hillary; I control oil prices

    Proving that Democrats don’t understand market forces, Hillary announced that simply by her presence in the White House, oil prices will drop. “How?”, you might ask;(Daily News)

    “I predict to you, the oil-producing countries will drop the price of oil,” Clinton said, speaking at the Manchester YWCA. “They will once again assume, once the cost pressure is off, Americans and our political process will recede.”

    Clinton argued that former President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s actually started moving in the right direction toward energy independence, but his successor, Ronald Reagan, “dismantled” that work.

    Jimmy Carter, huh? Invoking the ghost of Jimmy Carter’s famous “Malaise Speech” probably isn’t a good idea for a Democrat candidate. (more…)

  • Looking into the past

    My dad sent me this picture a few months ago and I’ve been kind of fascinated with it. It was taken in September 1905, that’s my greatgrandfather (born Carl Wilhelm Lilja in 1866 – but the immigration people changed his last name to Lilyea at Ellis Island when he immigrated in 1899 from Sweden with his young bride fifteen years his junior). That’s my grandfather next to him, Oscar Wilhelm Lilyea, born in August 1900, my Great Aunt Edith is the two-year-old cutie in the front, my Great Uncle Charlie is standing next to my Great Grandmother, and that’s Uncle Elmer on her knee.

    On the back of the picture, my grandfather writes that he remembers the picture because he hated having his hair curled for the occasion. I can imagine, my grandfather ran a one-man sawmill operation until he was seventy years old. Elmer had a farm in Penn Yan, NY that he handed on to his son, who still runs that farm. Edith married a man, my uncle Barney (who’d fought across the Pacific with the Army) from Montana who raised beef cattle in Penn Yan until they both passed.

    My grandfather also writes that he remembers none of them spoke English at the time – until he started school a few weeks after this picture was taken.

    I’d always wished that I could see the world the way my grandfather saw it – he was born before the Wright Brothers’ flight and watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Wonder where we’ll be a hundred years from now.

  • IRS employee caught in Harriet Walters’ scam crew

    With tens of millions of dollars skimmed out of tax receipt coffers, an IRS employee was scooped up iin the net according to the Washington Examiner;

    An IRS manager and his estranged wife were charged with receiving $2.8 million as part of the growing D.C. property tax scheme in which tens of millions of dollars were embezzled from the District’s coffers. (more…)

  • Thanks to the troops

    I’ve been tying up loose ends at work today (because I have four…count ’em…four days off) and trying to hook up with my former battle buddy so I missed this today – time to catch up.

    Last week the guys at Blackfive, offered to assemble a video “thanks” for bloggers to send out to the troops for the holidays. This is the finished product. Some day I’ll figure out this embedding video stuff, until I do, just click, please. 

    I don’t know how many Christmases I spent away from my family, with no computers, no email, no YouTube – not knowing what the people in my country were thinking about me and my troops – just doing our jobs and hoping for the best. This was a great opportunity to tell this generation of warriors that they’re loved and thought of fondly.

    I’d like to thank Blackfive and Uncle Jimbo for giving me the opportunity to send my thanks and holiday wishes to the troops.

    Other bloggers who took advantage of this great opportunity were:

    Michele Malkin

    Mary Katherine Hamm

    Churchill’s Parrot

    Some Soldier’s Mom

    Baldilocks (I’ve never met her, but I knew her as soon as she came on the screen)

    Army Wife Toddler Mom

    USO Girls

    Loopy Libertarian at Chromed Curses

    Bear Creek Ledger

    Love, Mom (Notes from the fridge)

    Tammi’s World

    That 1 Guy at Drunken Wisdom

    Click these guys, thank them and support them because they aren’t ashamed to support the troops.  And check the video response to Blackfive’s video – with scenes from all my favorite movies.