Fidel Castro: Fifteen Memorable Quotes

Fidel Castro has resigned.

Finally.

Officially.

Let the celebrations in Miami begin!

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008. He came to power in an armed revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and was shortly thereafter sworn in as the Prime Minister of Cuba.

In 1965 he became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and led the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist republic.

In 1976 he became president of the Council of State as well as of the Council of Ministers. He also held the supreme military rank of Comandante en Jefe ("Commander in Chief") of the Cuban armed forces.

On July 31, 2006, after undergoing intestinal surgery for diverticulitis, he transferred his responsibilities to the First Vice-President, his younger brother Raúl Castro.

On February 19, 2008, five days before his current mandate expired, he announced he would not seek nor accept a new term as either president or commander-in-chief.

Last year in September, Castro was quoted as saying that he was "determined to outlast President George Bush.

He didn't achieve that goal, nor many of his others since seizing power in Cuba almost 50 years ago.

We present fifteen Fidel Castro quotes to celebrate his resignation.

"A revolution is not a bed of roses. "

-- Castro in 1959.


"I'm not thinking to cut my beard, because I'm accustomed to my beard and my beard means many things to my country. When we have fulfilled our promise of good government I will cut my beard."

--Castro in 1959, interview with CBS's Edward Murrow, 30 days after revolution.


"One of the greatest benefits of the revolution is that even our prostitutes are college graduates."

--Castro to director Oliver Stone in 2003 documentary "Comandante."


"Capitalism is using its money; we socialists throw it away."

--Castro in the Observer


"I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened."

--Fidel Castro



"I feel it is my duty to be more disciplined, do my exercises and take maximum care of myself -- even if only to mortify [his opponents] a little longer."

--The Cuban leader explaining his motives for keeping in shape.


"I would not vote for the mayor. It's not just because he didn't invite me to dinner, but because on my way into town from the airport there were such enormous potholes."

--on NY Mayor Rudy Guiliani


"The universities are available only to those who share my revolutionary beliefs."


"A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past."


"I am not a communist and neither is the revolutionary movement."




"They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?"

--Fidel Castro


"I am Fidel Castro and we have come to liberate Cuba."

--Fidel Castro


"I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is alienating... because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition."

--Fidel Castro


"I was a man who was lucky enough to have discovered a political theory, a man who was caught up in the whirlpool of Cuba's political crisis . . .discovering Marxism . . .was like finding a map in the forest."

--Castro


"I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure (Jesus Christ)."

--Castro in 1985.

15 quotes from Fidel Castro, until yesterday, the absolute leader and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Cuba.

Others reporting in FIDEL-a-VISION this morning * Lawhawk has a nice roundup of All Things Fidel: Meet the New Boss; Same as the Old Boss * Jammie Wearing Fool has the expected reactions of the Left: Cadaver Resigns, Left in Mourning * Ed Driscoll has a nice Fidel-A-Rama: Aging, Ailing Cuban Dictator "Retires" * Michelle Malkin has "Castro to Resign: 'This is Not my Farewell to You'"

images:
* guardian
* questionscritique
* michael ramirez
Sources:
* Fidel Castro
* Castro Quotes
* Castro Quotes
* Fidel Castro Quotes
* Fidelisimo



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Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Castro Resigns: Bye Fidelity

A Tale from the BlancaSphere



Fidel Castro has resigned as President and Commander in Chief of Cuba. To quote my favorite gay epileptic from "Fox and Friends," Steve Doucy, this is huge!

With the last reason to vote Republican, save Gloria Estefan's almost parasitic affection for Commander Guy, Cuban-Americans are now reflecting on their political choices for the past 47 years.

The Miami-landed Cubans have opposed anything Democrat ever since the Bay of Pigs.

For anyone under 100, the Bay of Pigs was a bay with pigs in it. Oh, yeah, President Kennedy did something with those pigs, or the bay or something. Quite honestly, I can't remember, and I am sure no one still breathing without a respirator in Florida can't, either.

These Cuban-Americans have voted for Republicans ever since, in some misguided hope that we would end the reign of Castro and bring freedom and capitalism to Cuba. Actually, I don't think they were all that concerned with the freedom, they just wanted a return to capitalism and to be compensated for all the stuff stolen from them by Castro.

In this I am in solidarity with my little Cubano brethren. My family knows what it is like to have property stolen from them by a government. Thank you very much, Mr. Lincoln.

And what has all this loyalty to my party of choice brought the Cubans over this nearly five decades? Let's do a quick check, shall we?

In the same time period we have seen an end to the Cold War and a restoration of democracy to Europe, the unification of Germany, and the entry of many Eastern Bloc countries into NATO.

Cuba still has all those old cars.

Vietnam, our former enemy, is now a trading partner with the United States. Any visit to Ikea will reveal the wide variety of products from this Southeast Asian country, from woven baskets, to woven placements, to woven baskets of a different size and shape.

Americans can even visit the country and tour the notorious Hanoi Hilton. For five dollars, you can stay overnight in the John McCain suite, which includes a slop bucket and generous hole in the floor for your every bio need.

Americans can't go to Cuba unless it is for humanitarian or journalistic purposes. Try to bring back a Cuban cigar from Canada, and get thrown in--ironically enough--Guantanimo.

The Soviet Union is no more, and Putin is our friend. Well, he is more like a friend with privileges, if those privileges include poisoning people, buzzing our ships, and spying on us.

But he's a good man.

Commander Guy looked into his soul and saw it. He was plastered at the time, but he saw it.

Republican Presidents have refused to even talk to Fidel Castro over all these years.

So in the end, what has all this devotion to the Republicans bought the Cubans? Well, it seems that 47 years of boycotts and snubs have accomplished nothing and that Castro's colon finally won the battle.

Time will tell whether things change in Cuba. Don't hold your breath.

We will have to wait for a second colon attack, this time Raoul's.

by Blanca DeBree
image: blancasphere
Source: Bye Fidelity

Want more Blanca DeBree? Try these recent Tales from the BlancaSphere: * It's My Turn * Plagiarist-In-Chief

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Malaysian Health Minister Resigns; Mulls Porn Career

Malaysian Scandal Makes Front Pages
Without Help from the National Enquirer

Malaysian Heath Minister urged Malaysians to wear condoms

The Malaysian Health Minister who urged fellow countrymen to wear condoms fell victim to the discovery that he'd been the star of two sex videos--one almost an hour long.

One would think that the Health Minister meets at least one requirement for a promising porn career: stamina.

Health Minister Chua Soi Lek, a married man with three children, stepped down yesterday after the secretly filmed sex videos caught him committing adultery with a female "close" friend.

No word on whether the doctor was wearing a condom at the time.

Health Minister Chua Soi Lek was seen performing sexual acts with the woman in a hotel room. A one-hour DVD recording of the episode began circulating last week, and Chua acknowledged on Tuesday he was the man in the video.

Dr. Chua Soi Lek described the woman as a "personal friend" but refused to go into greater detail.

One would hope that the woman was a personal friend.

It probably made little difference to his wife and three children.

The 61-year-old former physician has been a fast-rising government official in recent years, but the scandal turned into a high-profile embarrassment for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who brought Chua into the Cabinet in 2004.

Another "fast rising" career in politics derailed by sex and scandal involving videotape.

As of yet, there has been no word of who exactly taped the secret videos.

Was it the doctor?

Or was his "personal friend" the producer?

Malaysia's Religious Police didn't think it made much difference either way.

The New Strait Times, from Malaysia, reports.

Police will investigate the "hidden camera" aspect of the sex act involving Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek in a hotel room.
This follows some concerns that the secret recording of the intimate scenes captured on a widely-circulated DVD was an indication of an invasion of privacy and the possibility of more cases of sinister taping of other privileged information.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Ismail Omar said investigations would cover all aspects of the case including how the recording equipment came to be in the room at a hotel in Batu Pahat.

At present, the matter is being investigated by police under Section 292 of the Penal Code for distribution of obscene material as the discs were reportedly dropped into the postboxes of selected houses and shops in Muar and Batu Pahat.

So someone other than the Health Minister may be in for some future trouble.

Unless he was the one who made the videos in the first place.

One can't imagine his doing that.

But one couldn't imagine the good doctor performing in the tapes, either.

In his role as Health minister, Lek advocated the use of condoms to help stop the spread of HIV, in the face of "religious opposition."

The "religious opposition" are the Malaysian Religious Police. Charged with enforcing "morality", the Religious Police are known for raiding discos and other places such as parks, to catch lovers in khalwat, or "close proximity". Khalwat is considered adultery and a crime, un-chaperoned meetings between men and women who are not married to one another.

Perhaps if the doctor had taken better care of his "personal friend", the tapes would still be a secret.

The scandal made front page news in the South Asian country.

And Malaysia doesn't even have the National Enquirer around.

by Mondoreb
[image: jpkhp]
Source:
* Malaysia's Health Minister Resigns
* Malysian Health Minister "Unwittingly" Stars in Sex Videos
* Police to Probe Secret Recording

For a complete run-down on the Malaysian Health Minister story, check out "Malaysia Health Minister Caught on Sex Video" at Jammie Wearing Fool. It's got a video, too.

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.