<DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> > Who else besides Leo identifies himself as being on some entity called the democratic left (not that I mind the label)? A common expression of self-congratulation. > > Ashcroft would be unrestrained by the niceties of constitutional law". > Well, he is constrained in a way Castro obviously isn't: I'm sure Aschcroft doesn't feel free to send me or the writer of this article or anyone else to jail because of their political speech. I am sure it has nothing to do with reverence or even respect for law, but only with power. He'd do if he thought he could get away with it. He has already gone much further in that direction than anyone would have expected. I heart today that Justice has busted some more people involved in an Islamic charity, and terrorism indictments are expected, in part because (this is in the present indictment, evidently) they posted on their website in May 1991 some Saudi fatwa that alleged states that it si OK to fly a plane into an important building. > Hard to argue that a Cuban state isn't a government of the left. Unfortunately, it's not a decent government of the left. Rubbish. It's repressive and dictatorial and corrupt -- but hell, I live in Chicago, and I don't think we'd do half as well, even on civil liberties, if we thought we faced a fraction of the threat that Cuba faces. This isn't the FSU, or Milos' Serbia, or Baathist Iraq. It's probably more like revolutionary Iran. Cuba has done a fabuloous job of improving people's life chances under incredibly difficult circumstances. Not a decent govt? We should have one half so good. jks</BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!? <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/search/mailsig/*http://search.yahoo.com">The New Yahoo! Search</a> - Faster. Easier. Bingo.