Keep walking towards the fire, Andrew...

In Memorian.

Andrew Breibart 1969-2012

Photo Source: www.biggovernment.com 

Here I am, getting back at blogging, while trying to type my thoughts about someone I've never met, but whose Twitter account would get me dizzy cause I always had to decipher his own updates from the RT's of the hate spewed towards him by the left militia online.

That was him; wearing all the liberals' hate as a badge of honor in this battle where he was always fearless. It is disgusting to read "tolerant left" the attacks against him and his family. Breibart left behind a wife and four children.

When I saw the breaking news during my early work shift this morning, Billy Joel's lyrics "only the good die young" inmediately came to mind. (I texted a good friend and fellow blogger asking her if today's was some sort of fools's day, cause I couldn't believe it. She is, as I am, a great admirer of Breibart)

Then memories started to roll in my head, from my first encounters with Breibart's investigative journalism, with the launch of Big's online conservative news outlets, uncovering ACORN scandals during the 2008 presidential elections, busting out Rep. Weiner, exposing the federal government back deals, the OWS hipocrisy, and many more.

As an investigative reporter myself (despite now on a different trade), still remembering my own battles to stand for my views regarding bias and fairness in J-School, I would see Breibart's work to expose corruption and the blatant bias in the mainstream media. His main goal, as I gathered early own from his work, was to explose the "liberally-biased" media to force them to cover stories fairly and including all angles, while trying to open the eyes of all Americans towards what it is going on in our country.

Often I would catch myselg thinking: what if this man would be teaching new journalists and reporters. I would watch videos of him answering to his haters, passionate and fearless, addressing every body sin pelos en la lengua (saying it as it is) and I would think; what if we had a man like this one in Cuba, fighting Castro's censorship and gov't control of the media.

Common sense Americans, from all walk of life and all sides on the political spectrum have lost today one of their best (happiest and fearless warrior), even though many of them still don't know it or would never admit it.

Journalists and reporters currently on the job, those like me working on different venues and aspiring journalists and reporters have lost one of a kind role model. The Samuel Adams of our times, a person who clearly knew that our freedom it is always a generation away of being lost, if we do not fight for it.

Here is Pat Dollard's take on his friend death.
Here is Andrew Breibart recent speech at CPAC 2012; AMAZING!
Here is the trailer of the upcoming documentary "Hating Breibart"

Personally, for me he was a professional role model and a paradigm of the conservative values we both shared. He was an inspiration for that phrase you can read on the right side of this blog; I lived 27 years of my life muzzled down, I will shut up no more!

Bon Voyage, maestro. 



Not completely ready to be back, but sharing an old lesson...

Probably an old lesson passed to me by a friend a few days ago...something that I will definitively keep to share with my son when the time comes.

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very Liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.

He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends, because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked , 'How is your friend Audrey doing?' She replied, ' Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over.'

Her wise father asked his daughter, 'Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA, and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.'

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, 'That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!'

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, 'Welcome to The Republican party.'

If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between Republican and Democrat I'm all ears.
If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test:

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat..
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A liberal will delete it because he's "offended".

Cubanita is back to the groove

Yep, I’m back.
Re energized, revamped and refurbished, as promised.

For the first time since I moved to colorful Colorado, I have enjoyed a summer and a seemingly endless fall reconnecting with things and people that were being left behind. But most importantly, I had time to take a look inside me while redecorating this life of mine. There was also some work-related travel + great professional experiences (#ata51) and it’s been… gooooood! 

Freedom Trail, Boston, MA

I’m still a busy working Mom, who day-to-day struggles to keep afloat my unconventional family, but I realized that I can not quit writing and blogging. A break? Yes. A good bye? Not so much…after all, writing helps me to keep my mental sanity.

Even though I was outta here, I never stopped learning lessons the hard way, most of the them from the chapter of “Never say never”... I know, "nunca digas de esta agua no beberé".

Insert here: yoga, kick boxing, dating in the US, mountain biking, zen living, hiking, meeting amazing people at unusually amazing places, getting inspiration from people that not even in my wildest dreams I thought I would agree with [at least in some common sense stuff] and much more…

Blue Sky Train @ Horsetooth Reservoir

I’ve learned the immense and powerful energy I can get when I pull a Warrior II pose or how I am able to root down to earth and forget everything when posing a tree. I’ve managed to deliver some useful jabs and kicks and I can pull a pretty mean Zumba with Pitbull’s “Sube, sube, hasta las nubes.” (OK, I"m kinda of cheating here because the rhythm sort of come the genes, but you get the idea.)

There has been butterflies and fireworks. And I’ve been bruised; both physically (try losing your bike’s brakes on a trail that was supposed to be for beginners and it wasn’t) and emotionally. But I have picked up my pieces, dusted off by butt and kept going. There is simply no other way around.

It is not that I didn’t know who I was or the things that were/are important for me; it’s that now I am more in sync with my inner self and more aware of my own virtues and flaws. Yes, I‘m also better equipped than ever to don’t give a crap when I don’t fit with someone else’s preconceived mold.

I have re discovered the priceless values of living a simple life, packed in 24 hrs chunks of “present”. After all, “the good thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” --Abraham Lincoln.

Truth to be told, I am a lucky & blessed woman who, stealing my friend’s line, does live a charmed life.

Now you might wonder, what’s up with all the whining and the exorcism?

Well, one more time I have realized that I have no reason to complain. There is always someone out there weathering something thousand times harder. It is all about perspective.

Case point: Reina Luisa Tamayo, mother of political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died on a hunger strike last February in Castro’s dungeons.

She has been assaulted by Castro’s thugs; again. She’s being harassed in the streets. In the eyes of the dictatorship thugs, the mother of a dead political prisoner is a very dangerous entity.

And here I am, taking time off from blogging to redecorate this life of mine.
Seriously.

I am not dead. And I haven't quit

It's just that this Cubanita still have some re-decorating to do in her personal life, on top of working to keep up with real life and raising my Cubanito 2.0 in colorful Colorado.

I will keep blogging because, after all, Cuba is still an oppressed country and in a matter of weeks my adopted homeland will see whether we can pull ourselves out of the road to nowhere or not.

Besides, writing helps me to keep my mental sanity.
Soon will be back in the arena, fully refurbished, revamped and re-energized

It happened again: don't beat them; they're just bloggers

Thought that going back to the blogging arena suffering from the flu was bad?
Think again.

That's nothing when you realize you're going back to your blogging routine while fellow Cuban bloggers are being beaten up in the streets of Havana, Cuba.



All for having the guts to dissent; and to blog about it.

I will need to repeat again that, despite the many differences in opinion and concepts that some of us may have with Yoani Sanchez, her husband and other bloggers in Cuba, those differences does not set us apart from our common goal of democracy and human rights for Cuba.

Those differences is what make us stronger and it is a fundamental building block of democracy in a future Cuba.

These Cubans are playing an invaluable role by breaking the government's censorship, while putting their own physical integrity at risk. We can only commend them for doing what they do.

And we need to spread the word all over the Internet about these attacks they are suffering, again, just for having the courage to dissent.

Friday was the second time that Cuban state security and the political police teamed up with all sort of thugs to publicly beat up dissident bloggers. Too bad for them; they don't know about Twitter, cell phone instant pics and other technical venues to circumvent the communist's censorship.

This time, even the foreign reporters present in the busy corner of 23 y G, in the Vedado district in Havana, got their ration of punches.

Believe it or not, many reported the incident, obviously including the official version that "the people took the streets to defend the revolution against the CIA-paid mercenaries" 50 years old crap that they always use as forefront to repress dissent.

These are not exactly the same the repudiation rallies from the 80's - previous to the Mariel boat lift - when only the nearby neighbors learned about it; this is the XXI century and we have technology on our side.

This time we have Twitter (@yoanisanchez, @claudiacadelo) this time we have photographic evidences and videos of the government's organization tool behind it.

The question is: is the world paying attention? Where are the useful idiots in the US Congress and Hollywood when you need them the most? Where are you now?

Here is a round up of sites that were on top of it:

Penultimos Dias - mostly in Spanish. But the videos and the images, Getty's included, don't need translation.

Yoani Sanchez, Reinaldo Escobar, Claudia Cadelo have already uploaded their own versions, both in their blogs and in Twitter.

Aguaya, at Desarraigos Provocados, has also been following the events, in Spanish. She has the best parallel ever: the images of Jews being repudiated in Nazy Germany. The differences? The pics from back then are in plain black and white

Babalu Blog has posted a great summary in English.

Capitol Hill Cubans have posted a one-of-a-kind message to Yoani Sanchez and other fellow Cuban bloggers.

Gina Montaner, in El Mundo. El Pais, using the headline "Heart attack days for Yoani Sanchez". ABC and O'Globo...

Reuters has its story with its customary sycophant portion - otherwise, they would lose their man in Havana. Following more or less the same line is AP, via El Nuevo Herald.

Once again, the dictatorship has enter panic mode. They are starting to lose the battle against information censorship. The the sole idea freaks the living hell out of them.