I'm fascinated with almost every place I've visited, Old Guy, Cuba included. They're all very interesting in their own way. The reason Cuba fascinates me, though, is this: they have successfully resisted the Great Conquering Empire for 47 years, despite being just offshore from Florida...and still survived somehow. That's incredible. I admire them for that.

I admire Chavez because he has survived a CIA coup. That's not easy. Allende in Chile did not survive one. Neither did most of the others who were subjected to that sort of illegal and clandestine attack by the Empire.

The World Court condemned the USA during Reagan's term for illegal attacks and terrorism on Nicaragua, Old Guy. They found the USA guilty of massacring Nicaraguan civilians and mining neutral harbours without a declaration of war. Look it up. The USA ignored the World Court's rulings, because that's what outlaws do. They ignore the courts...unless they are in control of them, of course, in which case the courts will be made to rule in their favour.

USA-financed death squads have murdered tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands by now, in Central and South America, and they continue to do so. You won't hear about that on Fox, because Fox is the mouthpiece of the Empire. Old Guy, you are living in the single most feared, most aggressive, and most generally hated power on the face of the Earth right now, and that is no accident (that it is feared and hated, I mean). But you don't get it, and you never will. You're a blind patriot. Such people get used and then discarded by their leaders when they are no longer useful.

Hans Ulrich Rudel didn't get it, either. He flew Stukas for the Reich. He was brave beyond the call of duty, tremendously capable, and totally, absolutely naive in a political sense. For all I know, you are probably brave and capable too. It happens. The best of people can still be fooled by national propaganda.

No one out there is any real threat to your country right now except the small elite group of people who are running it. But I'd never expect you to believe that. Too bad you're not still young enough to enlist and fight....I'd say, "go, young man. Go to Iraq. Discover the truth the hard way, on the ground, and tell me all about it afterward if you survive the experience."

Mind you, Rudel went. He destroyed over 500 Russian tanks with his stukas during the war. It didn't change anything. He was just as loyal a Nazi after the German surrender as he had been before it. Some people's faith in their accustomed political system and its propaganda is like a rock...nothing can move it.

If they win, they get to be called "heroes" afterward. If not, well, that's a different story. What Rudel did in combat on the Eastern Front WAS heroic, but he was doing it in service of a totally criminal national system. I'm sorry to say that that is the case with American servicemen at the moment too. They are dying for the oil companies, not for democracy or justice or freedom. They kill freedom in its cradle. I don't expect most of them to realize that. That's not an easy leap for anyone to make. People want to believe they are on the side of good, after all. It's natural that they should want to. Your military takes full advantage of that, as it brutalizes and brainwashes your youngsters in basic training, pschologically rapes them and numbs their perceptions, and then sends them out to kill for oil.

If your faith ever got shaken and the blinders fell off your eyes and you truly realized what has happened to your nation, you might face despair. Maybe you're better off remaining a true believer...