Fidel bias in the media – Example 1

The Herald Sun. Hardly the bastion of journalism, I know. And this editorial I link to below is a classic example of trashy media.

Just to correct some of their factual errors:

1. Castro was not a dictator by any definition.

2. Castro did not take the world ‘to the brink of nuclear war’ by defending his country with ballistic missiles. That is the right of any country. On the contrary – the United States’ attempt at an illegal invasion of Cuba took the world to the brink of nuclear war.

3. It wasn’t Castro’s actions that “condemned his people to almost Third World status”. It was the actions of the USA. Castro and Che didn’t nationalize American interests in Cuba until after the American government was trying to interfere in the government of the country (in an attempt to bring back to power their puppet Batista).

clipped from www.news.com.au

Exit Fidel Castro
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The Fidel Debate Continues

A negatively-biased article about Castro in The New Statesman by Isabel Hilton has some interesting reader comments including this one below. It’s fascinating to watch the way the US press is carrying the news. I’ve been trying to read as much of it as I can to see if I can find many pieces which are even *slightly* positive about Castro’s contribution to the people of Cuba and Latin America, Africa, etc. I haven’t found any so far.
clipped from www.newstatesman.com

Cassandra.says
21 February 2008

“There have never been death squads in our country, nor a single missing person, nor a single political assassination, nor a single victim of torture. . . . You may travel around the country, ask the people, look for a single piece of evidence, try to find a single case where the Revolutionary government has ordered or tolerated such an action. ”

Since Fidel made this statement, I have challenged the exiles on the Net who promulgate their own Mythic Cuba to disprove it. Note how low the bar is. They only have to come up with a single case, which would still leave Cuba with the best human rights record in the hemisphere.

So far they have failed. The long list “murders” by Castro they cite include Bay of Pigs casualties, legalized abortions, people whose cancers were diagnosed while they were in custody, people who drowned in the Straits of Georgia … one assumes that if they had a better case to make, they would make it.

Fidel, press conference, 2001

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Windows Live SkyDrive Becomes Useful

A week ago I was asking around on Twitter for recommended “storage in the cloud” services and nobody was able to offer a service by a company who didn’t look like they were about to go out of business. Nobody even *mentioned* Microsoft’s SkyDrive, probably because it was limited to 1Gb and to people in the US and UK.

No more!

Today they’ve announced they have increased the (free) storage to 5Gb, it’s available in 35 countries AND… you can access is from a Mac. Nice one MSFT!

This is the first online service of Microsoft’s that I’ll have used since I dumped Hotmail in 2004. Of course, if Google had a similar service I’d probably use that, because everything else I do is with Google. And if they come out with something (which is bound to happen) then I’ll probably move over. Nice, though, to see Microsoft do something early and right in the online services space.

G’DAY WORLD #314 – Randall Cameron, My Virtual Home

My guest today s Randall Cameron, National Sales Manager for My Virtual Home, a software company in Brisbane with an amazing product. It allows you to build a 3D virtual representation of your home – in ten minutes. With no need for any understanding of CAD. It’s brilliant.

If you want to download the software (500mb), use the link below and type in Coupon Code = “PCN” for a 25% discount.

MyVirtualHome