Castro The Billionaire

I find out from www.tobiasbuckell.com's "Castro the Billionaire" post that Forbes calls Castro a billionaire.

O...k...

And they used new "criteria" to be able to get this current assessment, when I click some links provided along with the post.

Ok then...

I carry around my sceptcism like other carry around socks. And not without reason. Just got off the phone with Otis (Norman "Otis" Richmonnd) to ask him if he recalled who did the show where the professor from Jamica was talking about the Cuban doctors. Turns out it was him. Cool. Asked some questions because I heard about this "Castro Billionaire" thing; and turns out he's airing a repeat because of the Castro "news"

So, tried posting something to Tobias' blog. Seems his comments thing's not behanvin'.

Again, the info's relevant to stuff I cover here, so I'll just repeat what I sent off in an email.

When it comes to Cuba and Communism, I've found the average person's got a set of preconceived notions locked behind a safe you can't access. Yeah, everyone's dying to get away and risk their lives on a boat...

Never mind I know people who've been to Cuba within the last six months... and not because Canadians tend to go there for vacation.

(Right. Anything else I say will just be personal ranting, and I'd like to think this isn't a personal ranting sort of blog.)

So here's what I sent off.

TB: Well, this person has. I'm not impressed with Castro's government or his experiment.

I didn't reply until now because I was getting a hold of folks who I know; namely 1) pals who are still, or were, members of the Communist Party; 2) people I know, like Normal "Otis" Richmond, who host radio shows and is considered a black community leader here in Toronto. He runs a show here on CLKN radio called "Saturday Morning Live" which has so many acdemics walking though it they've worn grooves; and a lot of good stuff, including "Amanla" (sp?) which is a segment done by people from Africa on the latest on news happening from the continent.

CLKN has a long and proven history of not only pissing off those who'd rather not have the info out- (case in point:- CKLN's rather busy at the moment, with Wendy/Queen Nzinga's deportation a week or so back; she's a widely, widely loved and respected community leader who did CKLN's entire "International Women's Day" programming for the week. A week or so after former police chief Fantino ranted about the station "Promoting hate" because Ron does a "Bad Cop, No Doughnut" segment on his show, culled from headlines all over North America, cops picked her up selling cookies at the International Women's Day events and she got deported to Costa Rica after having her case languishing in thesystem for years)- presenting news the mainstream media either barely covers or not cover at all. It's how I knew that Abu Ghraib scandal was happening before it became mainstream fodder, for instance.

In any event. He is going to be doing a repeat of the show he did with the profefessor from Jamaica who had gotten an honouray doctorship(?) from Cuba. (What specifically evades, me because it's been a bit since I heard this particular show and that's not why I remembered the show anyway ). The gentleman in question went on at length to talk about why Cuban doctors were respected in Jamaica, and elsewhere; they had flown 20,000 people from Venezuela so they can have cataract removal, since resources in Venezuela for these people were limited. One of the reasons the professor stated the doctors doing this at no cost to Venezuelans (or their govenrment) was because of their Communist leanings; that they are doctors "and they are there to serve the people". IF I recall correctly, they've also been to Haiti when the coup happened...

So, long story short, that's why I'm sceptical about the "Castro being a Billionaire" thing. Norman's doing the show repeat because of the Castro Billionaire thing. You can listen to the show tomorrow Sunday on the web at www.ckln.fm (you can probably also get a copy of the show if you miss it) or email Norman yourself at norman@ckln.fm.