http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/ Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:44:17 -0600 MyBB http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15105 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:41:36 -0600 Lillian http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15105 4:19pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday announced measures to hire Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to restore national parks and work as police and firefighters in a bid to cut veterans' above-average unemployment rate.

The announcement followed Obama's vow in the January 24 State of the Union address to form a Veterans Job Corps to create jobs for veterans of the post-September 11 wars.

Obama proposed setting aside $1 billion to develop a conservation program that he said would put up to 20,000 veterans to work over five years rebuilding national parks or local communities.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure that when our troops come home, they come home to new jobs and new opportunities and new ways to serve their country," Obama said in televised remarks at an Arlington, Virginia, firehouse.

In a separate statement, the White House announced 2012 grants of $166 million to hire veterans as police officers and $320 million to hire them as firefighters and emergency personnel.

Obama also will include in the 2013 budget a separate $4 billion in funding to promote police hiring, with communities that hire post-September 11 veterans getting preference for the funds. Another $1 billion would go to employ firefighters and emergency workers, the statement said.

The national jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent last month, the lowest in almost three years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate for veterans who served after the September 11, 2001, attacks is 9.1 percent.

Veterans overall have an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Bill Trott)


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/0...SU20120203]]> 4:19pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday announced measures to hire Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to restore national parks and work as police and firefighters in a bid to cut veterans' above-average unemployment rate.

The announcement followed Obama's vow in the January 24 State of the Union address to form a Veterans Job Corps to create jobs for veterans of the post-September 11 wars.

Obama proposed setting aside $1 billion to develop a conservation program that he said would put up to 20,000 veterans to work over five years rebuilding national parks or local communities.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure that when our troops come home, they come home to new jobs and new opportunities and new ways to serve their country," Obama said in televised remarks at an Arlington, Virginia, firehouse.

In a separate statement, the White House announced 2012 grants of $166 million to hire veterans as police officers and $320 million to hire them as firefighters and emergency personnel.

Obama also will include in the 2013 budget a separate $4 billion in funding to promote police hiring, with communities that hire post-September 11 veterans getting preference for the funds. Another $1 billion would go to employ firefighters and emergency workers, the statement said.

The national jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent last month, the lowest in almost three years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate for veterans who served after the September 11, 2001, attacks is 9.1 percent.

Veterans overall have an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Bill Trott)


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/0...SU20120203]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15103 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:43:52 -0600 Lillian http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15103
By Peter Whoriskey and David Nakamura,
Updated: Friday, February 3, 4:05 PM


The nation’s unemployment rate dropped for the fifth straight month in January, to 8.3 percent, its lowest level in three years, the Labor Department reported Friday, with widespread hiring across the economy. The number of jobs grew by 243,000.

The Labor Department recorded gains in many parts of the economy. The manufacturing industry added 50,000 jobs; the leisure and hospitality businesses added 44,000; and the health care industry added 30,000.

Stocks surged on the news throughout the day, with the Nasdaq tech composite closing up 46 points, or 1.6 percent, hitting an 11-year high; the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising more than 156 points, or 1.2 percent, to a 3 1/2-year high; and the Standard & Poor’s index jumping 19 points, or nearly 1.5 percent.

During an appearance Friday at a firehouse in Arlington, President Obama seized on the numbers as proof that the nation’s economic recovery “is speeding up.”

“This morning we received more good news about our economy,” Obama said. “... Now these numbers will go up and down in the coming months, and still far too many Americans need a job or need a job that pays better than the one they have now. But the economy is growing stronger, the recovery is speeding up.”

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney quickly issued a statement that focused instead on economic growth for the last year, saying that, at 1.7 percent growth, the nation was recovering too slowly.

“Unfortunately, these numbers cannot hide the fact that President Obama’s policies have prevented a true economic recovery. We can do better,” Romney’s statement said as the former Massachusetts governor campaigned in Nevada the day before the state’s GOP caucuses.

Romney also focused on one of the unflattering statistics of Friday’s jobs report: The percentage of the population who are employed or seeking work dropped again, to 63.7 percent, from 64 percent the month before.

“The percentage of Americans in the job market continues to decline and is now at a level not seen since the early 1980s,” Romney said.

But the drop in the percentage in what is known as “labor force participation” from December to January does not reflect a change in the economy, the Labor Department said. The entire drop is due to a change in the way the statistics are calculated. The January numbers incorporate changes to population figures from the 2010 Census.

In all, the ranks of the unemployed dropped to 12.8 million in January from 13.1 million the month before.

Campaigning in Las Vegas Friday, rival GOP candidate Newt Gingrich was asked for his reaction to the jobs report. “I haven’t looked at them,” the former House speaker said as he signed autographs for supporters. Later in the day, he said in a statement, “Anemic growth is not growth. We need to make dramatic change to the tax code and draw back job-killing regulations.”

The report also revised November’s payroll numbers, saying the economy added 157,000 jobs that month, rather than the 100,000 reported. Revisions to the December figure were small.

Many economists agreed that the numbers signal that the economy may be stronger than some had thought.

On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office forecast an unemployment rate for this year of 8.9 percent through 2012; last week the Federal Reserve projected a range between 8.2 percent and 8.5 percent.

If the economy continues adding jobs at 200,000 or more per month, as it has for the last three months, then the rate will probably sink further, economists said.

“This is a game changer,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist of High Frequency Economics. “The payroll numbers validate, in the market’s eyes, what all the other data are saying.”

In touting the numbers, Obama and other Democrats stumped for a renewal of the payroll tax cut, which expires at the end of this month.

“The most important thing Congress can do right now is . . . pass an extension of the payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment insurance and do it without drama, without delay, without linking it to ideological side issues,” Obama said. “. . . I want to send a clear message to Congress: Don’t slow down the economic recovery we’re on. Do not muck it up. Keep it moving in the right direction.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned that “if Republicans continue to drag their feet on extending this tax cut, Democrats will move forward with this legislation to ensure that middle-class families don’t get hit with a tax increase at the end of the month, and we don’t jeopardize the economic gains we’ve seen over the past few months.”

Republicans, however, focused on the fact that unemployment remains above 8 percent and argued that the prescriptions offered by the Obama administration had failed to support economic growth.

“Our economy still isn’t creating jobs the way it should be, and that’s why we need a new approach,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday morning.

While much of the economy is growing, there does seem to be little improvement among the ranks of the long-term unemployed and discouraged workers.

The number of long-term unemployed, people have who have been jobless for 27 weeks or more, was little changed at 5.5 million, the report said. They accounted for 42.9 percent of the unemployed.

Moreover, the number of people the Labor Department classifies as “marginally attached” to the economy held steady at about 2.8 million. The government classifies as “marginally attached” people who want to work and have looked for a job sometime in the past 12 months. They are not counted as unemployed because they have not looked for work in the past month.

“We’ve dug a big hole, and though we’ve been filling it in, we’ve still got a lot more to go,” said Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke similarly cautioned lawmakers on Thursday that the jobs outlook was tentative: “We still have a long way to go before the labor market can be said to be operating normally. Particularly troubling is the unusually high level of long-term unemployment.”

Economic researchers have just begun to dig into the reasons for the climb in long-term unemployment, which has been one of the defining concerns of the most recent downturn.

Some have speculated that the extension of unemployment benefits made it easier for people to hold off looking for work and lengthened jobless spells. But a paper issued this week by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco focuses elsewhere. The economists compared the number of unemployed with the number of job openings in the United States and found that the main reason for the spike in long-term unemployment is that there simply are too few jobs to be had.

“It is likely that the recent pattern of massive job losses and a weak jobs recovery is the primary explanation for elevated unemployment duration,” the authors, Rob Valletta and Katherine Kuang, found.

A strengthened economy, sooner or later, will draw those workers back into the labor force, economists said.


Staff writers David Nakamura, Felicia Sonmez and Philip Rucker in Washington and Paul Kane and Dan Balz in Nevada contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/e...ml?hpid=z1]]>
By Peter Whoriskey and David Nakamura,
Updated: Friday, February 3, 4:05 PM


The nation’s unemployment rate dropped for the fifth straight month in January, to 8.3 percent, its lowest level in three years, the Labor Department reported Friday, with widespread hiring across the economy. The number of jobs grew by 243,000.

The Labor Department recorded gains in many parts of the economy. The manufacturing industry added 50,000 jobs; the leisure and hospitality businesses added 44,000; and the health care industry added 30,000.

Stocks surged on the news throughout the day, with the Nasdaq tech composite closing up 46 points, or 1.6 percent, hitting an 11-year high; the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising more than 156 points, or 1.2 percent, to a 3 1/2-year high; and the Standard & Poor’s index jumping 19 points, or nearly 1.5 percent.

During an appearance Friday at a firehouse in Arlington, President Obama seized on the numbers as proof that the nation’s economic recovery “is speeding up.”

“This morning we received more good news about our economy,” Obama said. “... Now these numbers will go up and down in the coming months, and still far too many Americans need a job or need a job that pays better than the one they have now. But the economy is growing stronger, the recovery is speeding up.”

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney quickly issued a statement that focused instead on economic growth for the last year, saying that, at 1.7 percent growth, the nation was recovering too slowly.

“Unfortunately, these numbers cannot hide the fact that President Obama’s policies have prevented a true economic recovery. We can do better,” Romney’s statement said as the former Massachusetts governor campaigned in Nevada the day before the state’s GOP caucuses.

Romney also focused on one of the unflattering statistics of Friday’s jobs report: The percentage of the population who are employed or seeking work dropped again, to 63.7 percent, from 64 percent the month before.

“The percentage of Americans in the job market continues to decline and is now at a level not seen since the early 1980s,” Romney said.

But the drop in the percentage in what is known as “labor force participation” from December to January does not reflect a change in the economy, the Labor Department said. The entire drop is due to a change in the way the statistics are calculated. The January numbers incorporate changes to population figures from the 2010 Census.

In all, the ranks of the unemployed dropped to 12.8 million in January from 13.1 million the month before.

Campaigning in Las Vegas Friday, rival GOP candidate Newt Gingrich was asked for his reaction to the jobs report. “I haven’t looked at them,” the former House speaker said as he signed autographs for supporters. Later in the day, he said in a statement, “Anemic growth is not growth. We need to make dramatic change to the tax code and draw back job-killing regulations.”

The report also revised November’s payroll numbers, saying the economy added 157,000 jobs that month, rather than the 100,000 reported. Revisions to the December figure were small.

Many economists agreed that the numbers signal that the economy may be stronger than some had thought.

On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office forecast an unemployment rate for this year of 8.9 percent through 2012; last week the Federal Reserve projected a range between 8.2 percent and 8.5 percent.

If the economy continues adding jobs at 200,000 or more per month, as it has for the last three months, then the rate will probably sink further, economists said.

“This is a game changer,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist of High Frequency Economics. “The payroll numbers validate, in the market’s eyes, what all the other data are saying.”

In touting the numbers, Obama and other Democrats stumped for a renewal of the payroll tax cut, which expires at the end of this month.

“The most important thing Congress can do right now is . . . pass an extension of the payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment insurance and do it without drama, without delay, without linking it to ideological side issues,” Obama said. “. . . I want to send a clear message to Congress: Don’t slow down the economic recovery we’re on. Do not muck it up. Keep it moving in the right direction.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned that “if Republicans continue to drag their feet on extending this tax cut, Democrats will move forward with this legislation to ensure that middle-class families don’t get hit with a tax increase at the end of the month, and we don’t jeopardize the economic gains we’ve seen over the past few months.”

Republicans, however, focused on the fact that unemployment remains above 8 percent and argued that the prescriptions offered by the Obama administration had failed to support economic growth.

“Our economy still isn’t creating jobs the way it should be, and that’s why we need a new approach,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday morning.

While much of the economy is growing, there does seem to be little improvement among the ranks of the long-term unemployed and discouraged workers.

The number of long-term unemployed, people have who have been jobless for 27 weeks or more, was little changed at 5.5 million, the report said. They accounted for 42.9 percent of the unemployed.

Moreover, the number of people the Labor Department classifies as “marginally attached” to the economy held steady at about 2.8 million. The government classifies as “marginally attached” people who want to work and have looked for a job sometime in the past 12 months. They are not counted as unemployed because they have not looked for work in the past month.

“We’ve dug a big hole, and though we’ve been filling it in, we’ve still got a lot more to go,” said Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke similarly cautioned lawmakers on Thursday that the jobs outlook was tentative: “We still have a long way to go before the labor market can be said to be operating normally. Particularly troubling is the unusually high level of long-term unemployment.”

Economic researchers have just begun to dig into the reasons for the climb in long-term unemployment, which has been one of the defining concerns of the most recent downturn.

Some have speculated that the extension of unemployment benefits made it easier for people to hold off looking for work and lengthened jobless spells. But a paper issued this week by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco focuses elsewhere. The economists compared the number of unemployed with the number of job openings in the United States and found that the main reason for the spike in long-term unemployment is that there simply are too few jobs to be had.

“It is likely that the recent pattern of massive job losses and a weak jobs recovery is the primary explanation for elevated unemployment duration,” the authors, Rob Valletta and Katherine Kuang, found.

A strengthened economy, sooner or later, will draw those workers back into the labor force, economists said.


Staff writers David Nakamura, Felicia Sonmez and Philip Rucker in Washington and Paul Kane and Dan Balz in Nevada contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/e...ml?hpid=z1]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15102 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:40:52 -0600 Lillian http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15102
First Posted: 02/ 3/2012 3:43 pm Updated: 02/ 3/2012 3:53 pm



WASHINGTON -- At a private three-day retreat in California last weekend, conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch and about 250 to 300 other individuals pledged approximately $100 million to defeat President Obama in the 2012 elections.

A source who was in the room when the pledges were made told The Huffington Post that, specifically, Charles Koch pledged $40 million and David pledged $20 million.

The semi-annual, invitation-only meeting attracts wealthy donors, Republican politicians and conservative activists. Last year, hundreds of activists gathered outside the walled-off resort to protest the meeting. This year, however, the conference went off quietly.

"Conference organizers and their guests successfully slipped in and out of the Coachella Valley without being detected, by buying out nearly all of the 500-plus rooms at the Renaissance Esmeralda resort in Indian Wells," reported The Desert Sun. "The resort closed its restaurants, locked down the grounds with private security guards and sent many workers home."

This is the ninth straight year the Kochs have hosted the conference. As Politico reported last year, the meetings often adjourn "after soliciting pledges of support from the donors -- sometimes totaling as much as $50 million -- to nonprofit groups favored by the Kochs."

The fact that the wealthy conservative donors pledged $100 million for the 2012 elections shows how intent they are on trying to get Obama out of office -- and previews how intense, and likely nasty, the general election will be.

There are limits on how much an individual can give to a political candidate. Therefore, much of the money pledged at the recent gathering will likely go to super PACs or nonprofits that can spend and accept unlimited amounts of funds. GOP primary voters have already gotten a glimpse of how the political system looks with super PACs around: record amounts of money spent on a large number of negative ads in the early primary states.

The source told The Huffington Post that they lamented the direction the conference has taken over the years. They said it used to be about "conservative strategy" and building a movement, but now it was mostly an "alpha male" spectacle focused on fundraising to beat Obama.

The Koch brothers have been the major donors behind many Republican candidates, the Tea Party movement and efforts to discredit the science around man-made global warming. Democrats frequently highlight the brothers to fundraise, and the first TV ad of the Obama reelection campaign invoked them as "secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama with ads fact checkers say are not tethered to the facts."

Also at the conference was Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the Citadel Investment Group. He supported Obama in 2008, leading his employees to contribute more than $205,000 to the campaign. By the time of the election, however, he had switched his allegiance to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Since the election, he has openly discussed his "frustration" with Obama's policies, stating that he is "greatly concerned about the fiscal instability of the U.S." In the fourth quarter of 2011, Citadel employees completely abandoned Obama, contributing nothing to his campaign while giving $120,500 to presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The Center for Public Integrity also reported that for the first time, Las Vegas casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson attended the conference. Adelson and his family are largely bankrolling Newt Gingrich's presidential run, with Adelson and his wife, Miriam, having given the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future $10 million just this year.

Koch Industries did not return a request for comment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03..._ref=false]]>
First Posted: 02/ 3/2012 3:43 pm Updated: 02/ 3/2012 3:53 pm



WASHINGTON -- At a private three-day retreat in California last weekend, conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch and about 250 to 300 other individuals pledged approximately $100 million to defeat President Obama in the 2012 elections.

A source who was in the room when the pledges were made told The Huffington Post that, specifically, Charles Koch pledged $40 million and David pledged $20 million.

The semi-annual, invitation-only meeting attracts wealthy donors, Republican politicians and conservative activists. Last year, hundreds of activists gathered outside the walled-off resort to protest the meeting. This year, however, the conference went off quietly.

"Conference organizers and their guests successfully slipped in and out of the Coachella Valley without being detected, by buying out nearly all of the 500-plus rooms at the Renaissance Esmeralda resort in Indian Wells," reported The Desert Sun. "The resort closed its restaurants, locked down the grounds with private security guards and sent many workers home."

This is the ninth straight year the Kochs have hosted the conference. As Politico reported last year, the meetings often adjourn "after soliciting pledges of support from the donors -- sometimes totaling as much as $50 million -- to nonprofit groups favored by the Kochs."

The fact that the wealthy conservative donors pledged $100 million for the 2012 elections shows how intent they are on trying to get Obama out of office -- and previews how intense, and likely nasty, the general election will be.

There are limits on how much an individual can give to a political candidate. Therefore, much of the money pledged at the recent gathering will likely go to super PACs or nonprofits that can spend and accept unlimited amounts of funds. GOP primary voters have already gotten a glimpse of how the political system looks with super PACs around: record amounts of money spent on a large number of negative ads in the early primary states.

The source told The Huffington Post that they lamented the direction the conference has taken over the years. They said it used to be about "conservative strategy" and building a movement, but now it was mostly an "alpha male" spectacle focused on fundraising to beat Obama.

The Koch brothers have been the major donors behind many Republican candidates, the Tea Party movement and efforts to discredit the science around man-made global warming. Democrats frequently highlight the brothers to fundraise, and the first TV ad of the Obama reelection campaign invoked them as "secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama with ads fact checkers say are not tethered to the facts."

Also at the conference was Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the Citadel Investment Group. He supported Obama in 2008, leading his employees to contribute more than $205,000 to the campaign. By the time of the election, however, he had switched his allegiance to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Since the election, he has openly discussed his "frustration" with Obama's policies, stating that he is "greatly concerned about the fiscal instability of the U.S." In the fourth quarter of 2011, Citadel employees completely abandoned Obama, contributing nothing to his campaign while giving $120,500 to presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The Center for Public Integrity also reported that for the first time, Las Vegas casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson attended the conference. Adelson and his family are largely bankrolling Newt Gingrich's presidential run, with Adelson and his wife, Miriam, having given the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future $10 million just this year.

Koch Industries did not return a request for comment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03..._ref=false]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15101 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:24:43 -0600 Lillian http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15101 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YZb8s7Kx...re=related]]> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YZb8s7Kx...re=related]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15100 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:00:37 -0600 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15100 http://news.yahoo.com/blow-away-text-lan...27927.html

A Muslim businessman in Canada was detained on his way to the city after telling his sales staff in a text message to "blow away" the competition at a trade show, a religious association said. (AFP Photo/Fernando Leon)Enlarge Photo

Traffic moves through Times Square in New York City. A Muslim businessman in Canada …

A Muslim businessman in Canada became a terror suspect for telling his sales staff in a text message to "blow away" the competition at a New York City trade show, a religious association said Friday.

Moroccan-born Saad Allami, who works as a telecommunications company sales manager, was arrested three days after he sent the message in January 2011 and detained while police searched his home, said the Muslim Council of Montreal.

"The whole time, the officers kept repeating to the plaintiff's wife that her husband was a terrorist," said court filings in a lawsuit filed by Allami, cited by local media. Allami was released after four hours of questioning.

Some of his colleagues reportedly claimed they were also held for hours at the Canada-US border on account of the accusations made against their boss.

"Mr Allami's statements, when considered in the context of which they were given, were nothing to draw such alarm or suspicion," said Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal.

"It is clear that his arrest was the result of racial profiling and a knee-jerk reaction to label him as a terror suspect simply due to his religious background."

Allami is seeking Can$100,000 ($100,603) from Quebec's provincial police, a police sergeant and the justice department for unlawful detention, unlawful arrest, loss of income and damage to his reputation.

The Quebec Superior Court is to hear the case on March 5.]]> http://news.yahoo.com/blow-away-text-lan...27927.html

A Muslim businessman in Canada was detained on his way to the city after telling his sales staff in a text message to "blow away" the competition at a trade show, a religious association said. (AFP Photo/Fernando Leon)Enlarge Photo

Traffic moves through Times Square in New York City. A Muslim businessman in Canada …

A Muslim businessman in Canada became a terror suspect for telling his sales staff in a text message to "blow away" the competition at a New York City trade show, a religious association said Friday.

Moroccan-born Saad Allami, who works as a telecommunications company sales manager, was arrested three days after he sent the message in January 2011 and detained while police searched his home, said the Muslim Council of Montreal.

"The whole time, the officers kept repeating to the plaintiff's wife that her husband was a terrorist," said court filings in a lawsuit filed by Allami, cited by local media. Allami was released after four hours of questioning.

Some of his colleagues reportedly claimed they were also held for hours at the Canada-US border on account of the accusations made against their boss.

"Mr Allami's statements, when considered in the context of which they were given, were nothing to draw such alarm or suspicion," said Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal.

"It is clear that his arrest was the result of racial profiling and a knee-jerk reaction to label him as a terror suspect simply due to his religious background."

Allami is seeking Can$100,000 ($100,603) from Quebec's provincial police, a police sergeant and the justice department for unlawful detention, unlawful arrest, loss of income and damage to his reputation.

The Quebec Superior Court is to hear the case on March 5.]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15099 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:19:58 -0600 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15099
Eighteen days ago 50-year-old Jose-Ramon Darias went to Cuba to bring his terminally ill father in law home.

Two days later, his plane landed in Miami but Darias wasn't on it. He made it to the airport but never got on board. "My husband is an American citizen who legally traveled to Cuba with a U.S passport and he's been held in Cuba with false accusations," said his wife Vivian.

Viviana Darias is living a nightmare. Her husband, and father of their teenage son is being held in a Cuban prison. "I think they have mistaken him by another person," she says.

Darias is accused of trafficking false documents. "My husband is important to us for my family my son," said Vivian.

In January, Darias traveled to Cuba to bring his father in law, confined to a wheel chair, home. "My dad has cancer, he came to visit us for two months but he's getting worse," said Vivian.

When he landed in Cuba he was questioned for two hours, released but officials told him to remain close.

Two days later just before getting on his flight to return home Darias was arrested. "He checked in at the airport and he never arrived to the United States," she said.

Darias's wife is reaching out to politicians and is writing letters on Darias behalf.

Representative David Rivera said on the phone, traveling to Cuba is dangerous. "I think everybody needs to be aware that they are at risk every time they attempt to travel to Cuba, and that they can expect only the worst kind of treatment from the Castro dictatorship," said Rivera. "They can never expect to have any kind of legal protections while traveling to a totalitarian communist dictatorship like Cuba."

Meanwhile, a wife and a son just want their husband and father back home. "This is a difficult time that we are having right now. I have to wake up everyday and go to work and try to be normal," said Vivian.

Darias health is in danger. He suffers from high blood pressure and only took enough medication for three days. Tomorrow will be 19 days away from home.

7 News tried to reach the Cuban government but got no response.

(Copyright 2012 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Read more: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/...z1lMNXvcdH]]>
Eighteen days ago 50-year-old Jose-Ramon Darias went to Cuba to bring his terminally ill father in law home.

Two days later, his plane landed in Miami but Darias wasn't on it. He made it to the airport but never got on board. "My husband is an American citizen who legally traveled to Cuba with a U.S passport and he's been held in Cuba with false accusations," said his wife Vivian.

Viviana Darias is living a nightmare. Her husband, and father of their teenage son is being held in a Cuban prison. "I think they have mistaken him by another person," she says.

Darias is accused of trafficking false documents. "My husband is important to us for my family my son," said Vivian.

In January, Darias traveled to Cuba to bring his father in law, confined to a wheel chair, home. "My dad has cancer, he came to visit us for two months but he's getting worse," said Vivian.

When he landed in Cuba he was questioned for two hours, released but officials told him to remain close.

Two days later just before getting on his flight to return home Darias was arrested. "He checked in at the airport and he never arrived to the United States," she said.

Darias's wife is reaching out to politicians and is writing letters on Darias behalf.

Representative David Rivera said on the phone, traveling to Cuba is dangerous. "I think everybody needs to be aware that they are at risk every time they attempt to travel to Cuba, and that they can expect only the worst kind of treatment from the Castro dictatorship," said Rivera. "They can never expect to have any kind of legal protections while traveling to a totalitarian communist dictatorship like Cuba."

Meanwhile, a wife and a son just want their husband and father back home. "This is a difficult time that we are having right now. I have to wake up everyday and go to work and try to be normal," said Vivian.

Darias health is in danger. He suffers from high blood pressure and only took enough medication for three days. Tomorrow will be 19 days away from home.

7 News tried to reach the Cuban government but got no response.

(Copyright 2012 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Read more: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/...z1lMNXvcdH]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15098 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:15:40 -0600 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15098 http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/03/26...rylink=cpy

By Juan O. Tamayo
El Nuevo Herald

Cuba has freed a Cuban-American convicted of people smuggling after an incident in 2006 in which another smuggler was shot to death by Cuban security forces and a third was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Julio Rafael Mesa Farinas said he was taken Wednesday to the Havana airport directly from the same hospital prison wing where U.S. subcontractor Alan Gross is being held, and flew to Miami with the assistance of U.S. diplomats in Havana. He arrived in Florida on Wednesday.

Gross got into a shouting match with a State Security official after his 15-year prison sentence was upheld on appeal, accusing him of lying by promising “benefits like a reduction in sentence” if he cooperated with the legal process, Mesa said.

Mesa, a 51-year old former Hialeah truck driver recounted his tale in a lengthy telephone interview with El Nuevo Herald Friday.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the incident in 2006, in which he and two other Cubans set out from Mexico’s Caribbean coast in a 40-foot fast boat to pick up 44 people waiting to escape from the southern coast of Pinar De; Rio Province.

Cuban authorities were tipped to the escape and were waiting for the boat. They opened fire without warning, he said, killing Geovel González Morera and wounding the third smuggler, Rosendo Salgado, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Mesa said he was freed because of his ill health, apparently caused by the several hunger strikes he launched in prison to protest his conviction and prison conditions.

Former political prisoners Oscar Elias Biscet and Angel Moya confirmed to El Nuevo Herald Friday that they met Mesa in prison, and that he had been on several liquids-only hunger strikes.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/03/26...rylink=cpy]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/03/26...rylink=cpy

By Juan O. Tamayo
El Nuevo Herald

Cuba has freed a Cuban-American convicted of people smuggling after an incident in 2006 in which another smuggler was shot to death by Cuban security forces and a third was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Julio Rafael Mesa Farinas said he was taken Wednesday to the Havana airport directly from the same hospital prison wing where U.S. subcontractor Alan Gross is being held, and flew to Miami with the assistance of U.S. diplomats in Havana. He arrived in Florida on Wednesday.

Gross got into a shouting match with a State Security official after his 15-year prison sentence was upheld on appeal, accusing him of lying by promising “benefits like a reduction in sentence” if he cooperated with the legal process, Mesa said.

Mesa, a 51-year old former Hialeah truck driver recounted his tale in a lengthy telephone interview with El Nuevo Herald Friday.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the incident in 2006, in which he and two other Cubans set out from Mexico’s Caribbean coast in a 40-foot fast boat to pick up 44 people waiting to escape from the southern coast of Pinar De; Rio Province.

Cuban authorities were tipped to the escape and were waiting for the boat. They opened fire without warning, he said, killing Geovel González Morera and wounding the third smuggler, Rosendo Salgado, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Mesa said he was freed because of his ill health, apparently caused by the several hunger strikes he launched in prison to protest his conviction and prison conditions.

Former political prisoners Oscar Elias Biscet and Angel Moya confirmed to El Nuevo Herald Friday that they met Mesa in prison, and that he had been on several liquids-only hunger strikes.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/03/26...rylink=cpy]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15097 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:12:34 -0600 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15097 http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=61302

By Circles Robinson

Gerardo Concepcion © en su uniforme de Industriales. Photo: cubadebate.cu

HAVANA TIMES, Feb 3 — Gerardo Concepcion, the rookie of the year pitcher for Industriales in the Cuban Baseball League during the 2010-2011 season, is now a multi-millionaire about to begin his career with the Chicago Cubs.

The 19-year-old lefthander signed a multi-year contract on Thursday reported to be worth US $7 million as the Cubs take a gamble on his potential after a 10-3 season with a 3.36 ERA in the Cuban league, reported Fox News Latino on Friday.

Thus far in his brief career he has a 90+ MPH fastball, a curve ball and a changeup.

Concepcion abandoned the Cuban national team at an international event in Holland in June 2011. He first settled in Mexico and just recently was declared a free agent earlier this month and has been working out in the Dominican Republic.

Cuba has lost a string of its top players and prospects to the Major Leagues in recent years. The players are then considered traitors by the Cuban officialdom and the local media is forbidden from mentioning their names ever again.

The next Cuban player expected to sign a MLB contract is outfielder Yoennis Cespedes, 26, who played several seasons for Granma in the Cuban League including a league leading 33 homers last season tied with Jose Dariel Abreu (who won the crown because of less at-bats).

Reportedly interested in landing Cespedes are the Flordia Marlins, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Detroit Tigers.

The hard-hitting, swift and good fielding Cespedes is expected to receive as much or more as Aroldis Chapman, the lefty from Holguin, that was signed for US $30 million two years ago by the Cincinnati Reds.]]> http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=61302

By Circles Robinson

Gerardo Concepcion © en su uniforme de Industriales. Photo: cubadebate.cu

HAVANA TIMES, Feb 3 — Gerardo Concepcion, the rookie of the year pitcher for Industriales in the Cuban Baseball League during the 2010-2011 season, is now a multi-millionaire about to begin his career with the Chicago Cubs.

The 19-year-old lefthander signed a multi-year contract on Thursday reported to be worth US $7 million as the Cubs take a gamble on his potential after a 10-3 season with a 3.36 ERA in the Cuban league, reported Fox News Latino on Friday.

Thus far in his brief career he has a 90+ MPH fastball, a curve ball and a changeup.

Concepcion abandoned the Cuban national team at an international event in Holland in June 2011. He first settled in Mexico and just recently was declared a free agent earlier this month and has been working out in the Dominican Republic.

Cuba has lost a string of its top players and prospects to the Major Leagues in recent years. The players are then considered traitors by the Cuban officialdom and the local media is forbidden from mentioning their names ever again.

The next Cuban player expected to sign a MLB contract is outfielder Yoennis Cespedes, 26, who played several seasons for Granma in the Cuban League including a league leading 33 homers last season tied with Jose Dariel Abreu (who won the crown because of less at-bats).

Reportedly interested in landing Cespedes are the Flordia Marlins, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Detroit Tigers.

The hard-hitting, swift and good fielding Cespedes is expected to receive as much or more as Aroldis Chapman, the lefty from Holguin, that was signed for US $30 million two years ago by the Cincinnati Reds.]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15096 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:10:19 -0600 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15096 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/0...CU20120203

By Jeff Franks

HAVANA | Fri Feb 3, 2012 10:57am EST

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Cuba is opening the door to private management of some state-run cafes and food service outlets in an apparent test of further reforms aimed at keeping the island one of the world's last communist countries.

The government said food prices rose nearly 20 percent in 2011 in a warning sign that economic change will not be painless.

Spain's Repsol YPF brought the massive Scarabeo 9 drilling rig into Cuban waters and began drilling what Cuba hopes will be the first of many wells in its untapped offshore oilfields.

ECONOMIC REFORMS

In eastern Holguin province, officials said 211 state-owned cafeterias would be leased to employeesin a semi-privatization similar to what has been done nationally with barber shops and beauty salons the past year and recently expanded to other service businesses such as watch repair and carpentry shops.

The Holguin program has not been mentioned in national media, but is likely a trial run before it becomes generalized, as was done with the other services.

The government, which wants to slash a million jobs from its payroll and encourage more private initiative, has said it will turn many small businesses, nationalized since the 1960s, over to employee cooperatives.

It is encouraging self-employment, with more than 362,000 people now working for themselves.

Economy Minister Adel Yzquierdo Rodriguez told the National Assembly in late December that 170,000 state jobs would be cut in 2012 and as many as 240,000 new non-state jobs added.

The government's goal is to have up to 40 percent of the island workforce of 5.2 million in non-state jobs by 2015.

President Raul Castro has made reform of Cuba's lagging agricultural sector a top priority and the Cuban state, which owns 70 percent of the country's land, has leased 3.5 million acres (1.4 million hectares) to 150,000 private farmers since he succeeded older brother Fidel Castro as president in February 2008.

In some areas, the state has increased the land farmers can lease to 165 acres (67 hectares), extended their leases to 25 years, allowed them to build homes on the land and will let them pass the leases on to family members.

Yet food output was up just 2 percent in 2011 and still below 2005 levels.

That, reduced food imports by the cash-strapped government and reforms allowing farmers to sell more of their production for market prices combined to make food prices shoot up in 2011.

The National Statistics Office reported that meat prices rose 8.7 percent while produce prices increased 24.1 percent, for an average of 19.8 percent on the year..

At the same time, the average monthly salary inched up only a few percentage points to the equivalent of $19 a month, the government said. The statistics stated what Cubans already knew -- their buying power has shrunk under Castro's reforms.

President Castro told the National Assembly that Cuba still expected to spend $1.7 billion on food imports in 2012.

He also emphasized at a Communist Party conference the importance of an ongoing crackdown on corruption, which already has shuttered three foreign firms and sent executives of some of Cuba's biggest state-run firms to prison.

He said the party would implement term limits for the country's leaders, but he gave no details.

What to watch:

- The pace of reforms and their consequences.

- The development of small businesses.

- Agricultural production and food prices.

FINANCIAL HEALTH

Castro said the economy grew 2.7 percent in 2011 and was expected to rise 3.4 percent in 2012.

Cuba said it drew a record 2.7 million tourists in 2011, bringing in revenues of about $2.3 billion.

Travel industry experts say tourism has boomed this winter as the Arab Spring scared Europeans away from northern Africa, relaxed U.S. regulations made it easier for Americans to visit the island and Castro's reforms drew visitors curious to see the effects of changes. They said Cuba needs more hotels to accommodate its growing tourism industry, which is a top hard currency earner for the country.

Cuba is heavily indebted and still recovering from a liquidity crisis that led to a default on payments and freezing of foreign business bank accounts in 2009.

Castro told the National Assembly that accounts for foreign suppliers to Cuba had been unfrozen and steps taken to prevent the problem from happening again.

Hopes that reforms would bring more foreign investment have been slow to materialize, but Brazilian company Odebrecht said it would sign a contract to help Cuba improve its troubled sugar industry. One executive said the deal would include ethanol production.

Long-awaited golf course developments, aimed at attracting wealthier tourists, remain on hold.

What to watch:

- Resolution of outstanding short-term debt

- Signs of increased interest in foreign investment

- Growth of tourism and Cuba's ability to handle it

OIL PLANS

The Chinese-built Scarabeo 9 arrived in Cuban waters and at January's end began drilling the first of three exploration wells in Cuba's part of the Gulf of Mexico.

Spain's Repsol YPF and its partners plan to drill two of the wells and Malaysia's Petronas and its partner, Russia's Gazprom Neft, will drill the other, all this year and with the same rig.

The project has drawn opposition in the U.S. Congress, but, to allay safety concerns, Repsol allowed U.S. experts to inspect the Scarabeo 9 in Trinidad and Tobago. They said it met all international engineering and safety standards.U.S. companies are forbidden from operating in Cuba by the U.S. trade embargo.

Cuba depends on imports from its oil-rich ally Venezuela, but says it may have 20 billion barrels of oil offshore. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated 5 billion barrels.

What to watch:

- Results of Repsol's exploratory well.

- U.S. pressure to stop the drilling.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

A planned Papal visit in Marchimproved ties with Brazil, whose President Dilma Rousseff paid an official visit in January,are bright spots even as Cuba faces a more hostile Spanish government elected in November.

A major concern for Cuba is the health of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a loyal ally whose government provides 114,000 barrels of oil a day and investment to Cuba. He underwent chemotherapy in Cuba and has declared himself cancer free, but experts say it is too soon to tell.

If he were unable to continue in office, it would be a big blow to Cuba.

U.S.-Cuba relations, which thawed briefly under President Barack Obama, have been frozen by the imprisonment of U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross.He is serving a 15-year sentence for providing Internet gear to Cuban Jews under a U.S. program promoting Cuban political change.

A document reported to be the court's sentence said Gross knew the political aims of his work and tried to hide it from Cuban authorities despite his claims to the contrary.]]> http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/0...CU20120203

By Jeff Franks

HAVANA | Fri Feb 3, 2012 10:57am EST

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Cuba is opening the door to private management of some state-run cafes and food service outlets in an apparent test of further reforms aimed at keeping the island one of the world's last communist countries.

The government said food prices rose nearly 20 percent in 2011 in a warning sign that economic change will not be painless.

Spain's Repsol YPF brought the massive Scarabeo 9 drilling rig into Cuban waters and began drilling what Cuba hopes will be the first of many wells in its untapped offshore oilfields.

ECONOMIC REFORMS

In eastern Holguin province, officials said 211 state-owned cafeterias would be leased to employeesin a semi-privatization similar to what has been done nationally with barber shops and beauty salons the past year and recently expanded to other service businesses such as watch repair and carpentry shops.

The Holguin program has not been mentioned in national media, but is likely a trial run before it becomes generalized, as was done with the other services.

The government, which wants to slash a million jobs from its payroll and encourage more private initiative, has said it will turn many small businesses, nationalized since the 1960s, over to employee cooperatives.

It is encouraging self-employment, with more than 362,000 people now working for themselves.

Economy Minister Adel Yzquierdo Rodriguez told the National Assembly in late December that 170,000 state jobs would be cut in 2012 and as many as 240,000 new non-state jobs added.

The government's goal is to have up to 40 percent of the island workforce of 5.2 million in non-state jobs by 2015.

President Raul Castro has made reform of Cuba's lagging agricultural sector a top priority and the Cuban state, which owns 70 percent of the country's land, has leased 3.5 million acres (1.4 million hectares) to 150,000 private farmers since he succeeded older brother Fidel Castro as president in February 2008.

In some areas, the state has increased the land farmers can lease to 165 acres (67 hectares), extended their leases to 25 years, allowed them to build homes on the land and will let them pass the leases on to family members.

Yet food output was up just 2 percent in 2011 and still below 2005 levels.

That, reduced food imports by the cash-strapped government and reforms allowing farmers to sell more of their production for market prices combined to make food prices shoot up in 2011.

The National Statistics Office reported that meat prices rose 8.7 percent while produce prices increased 24.1 percent, for an average of 19.8 percent on the year..

At the same time, the average monthly salary inched up only a few percentage points to the equivalent of $19 a month, the government said. The statistics stated what Cubans already knew -- their buying power has shrunk under Castro's reforms.

President Castro told the National Assembly that Cuba still expected to spend $1.7 billion on food imports in 2012.

He also emphasized at a Communist Party conference the importance of an ongoing crackdown on corruption, which already has shuttered three foreign firms and sent executives of some of Cuba's biggest state-run firms to prison.

He said the party would implement term limits for the country's leaders, but he gave no details.

What to watch:

- The pace of reforms and their consequences.

- The development of small businesses.

- Agricultural production and food prices.

FINANCIAL HEALTH

Castro said the economy grew 2.7 percent in 2011 and was expected to rise 3.4 percent in 2012.

Cuba said it drew a record 2.7 million tourists in 2011, bringing in revenues of about $2.3 billion.

Travel industry experts say tourism has boomed this winter as the Arab Spring scared Europeans away from northern Africa, relaxed U.S. regulations made it easier for Americans to visit the island and Castro's reforms drew visitors curious to see the effects of changes. They said Cuba needs more hotels to accommodate its growing tourism industry, which is a top hard currency earner for the country.

Cuba is heavily indebted and still recovering from a liquidity crisis that led to a default on payments and freezing of foreign business bank accounts in 2009.

Castro told the National Assembly that accounts for foreign suppliers to Cuba had been unfrozen and steps taken to prevent the problem from happening again.

Hopes that reforms would bring more foreign investment have been slow to materialize, but Brazilian company Odebrecht said it would sign a contract to help Cuba improve its troubled sugar industry. One executive said the deal would include ethanol production.

Long-awaited golf course developments, aimed at attracting wealthier tourists, remain on hold.

What to watch:

- Resolution of outstanding short-term debt

- Signs of increased interest in foreign investment

- Growth of tourism and Cuba's ability to handle it

OIL PLANS

The Chinese-built Scarabeo 9 arrived in Cuban waters and at January's end began drilling the first of three exploration wells in Cuba's part of the Gulf of Mexico.

Spain's Repsol YPF and its partners plan to drill two of the wells and Malaysia's Petronas and its partner, Russia's Gazprom Neft, will drill the other, all this year and with the same rig.

The project has drawn opposition in the U.S. Congress, but, to allay safety concerns, Repsol allowed U.S. experts to inspect the Scarabeo 9 in Trinidad and Tobago. They said it met all international engineering and safety standards.U.S. companies are forbidden from operating in Cuba by the U.S. trade embargo.

Cuba depends on imports from its oil-rich ally Venezuela, but says it may have 20 billion barrels of oil offshore. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated 5 billion barrels.

What to watch:

- Results of Repsol's exploratory well.

- U.S. pressure to stop the drilling.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

A planned Papal visit in Marchimproved ties with Brazil, whose President Dilma Rousseff paid an official visit in January,are bright spots even as Cuba faces a more hostile Spanish government elected in November.

A major concern for Cuba is the health of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a loyal ally whose government provides 114,000 barrels of oil a day and investment to Cuba. He underwent chemotherapy in Cuba and has declared himself cancer free, but experts say it is too soon to tell.

If he were unable to continue in office, it would be a big blow to Cuba.

U.S.-Cuba relations, which thawed briefly under President Barack Obama, have been frozen by the imprisonment of U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross.He is serving a 15-year sentence for providing Internet gear to Cuban Jews under a U.S. program promoting Cuban political change.

A document reported to be the court's sentence said Gross knew the political aims of his work and tried to hide it from Cuban authorities despite his claims to the contrary.]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15095 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:47:22 -0600 cocuyo http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15095
http://www.noticias24.com/gente/noticia/...-127-anos/]]>
http://www.noticias24.com/gente/noticia/...-127-anos/]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15094 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:07:08 -0600 therealcuba http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15094 Feb. 3 - Cuba’s best-known pro-democracy blogger said she was denied permission to leave her country after Brazil granted her a visa ahead of President Dilma Rousseff’s state visit to the communist island last week.
“There’s no surprise,” Yoani Sanchez said in a posting on her Twitter account today. “They again deny me permission to leave. It’s the 19th time they violate my right to enter and leave my country.”
Sanchez, a critic of Raul Castro’s government on her Generation Y blog, requested permission to travel to Brazil next month so she could attend the screening of a documentary in which she appears. While she’s been barred from leaving Cuba for the past four years, expectations she might be allowed to exit this time increased after Brazil granted her a visa on the eve of Rousseff’s visit this week.
After Rousseff failed to meet with Sanchez and other activists during the three-day trade mission to Havana, the blogger complained on Twitter that the Brazilian president came to Cuba “with her wallet open and her eyes shut.”
Rousseff, who was inspired by Cuba’s revolution to take up arms against Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1960s, said she would not get involved in what is an internal Cuban matter.
“Brazil gave the visa to the blogger,” she told reporters in Havana. “The rest is not a matter for the Brazilian government.”
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Cuba’s decision when contacted by Bloomberg News.
While blocked from traveling abroad, Sanchez openly criticizes Castro’s government online, and has emerged as a leader among a group of young dissidents who describe the daily travails life in Cuba through difficult-to-access social media. She was invited to Spain after winning the Ortega y Gasset journalism prize in 2008. Many of her chronicles are published by newspapers throughout Latin America.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-03...razil.html]]> Feb. 3 - Cuba’s best-known pro-democracy blogger said she was denied permission to leave her country after Brazil granted her a visa ahead of President Dilma Rousseff’s state visit to the communist island last week.
“There’s no surprise,” Yoani Sanchez said in a posting on her Twitter account today. “They again deny me permission to leave. It’s the 19th time they violate my right to enter and leave my country.”
Sanchez, a critic of Raul Castro’s government on her Generation Y blog, requested permission to travel to Brazil next month so she could attend the screening of a documentary in which she appears. While she’s been barred from leaving Cuba for the past four years, expectations she might be allowed to exit this time increased after Brazil granted her a visa on the eve of Rousseff’s visit this week.
After Rousseff failed to meet with Sanchez and other activists during the three-day trade mission to Havana, the blogger complained on Twitter that the Brazilian president came to Cuba “with her wallet open and her eyes shut.”
Rousseff, who was inspired by Cuba’s revolution to take up arms against Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1960s, said she would not get involved in what is an internal Cuban matter.
“Brazil gave the visa to the blogger,” she told reporters in Havana. “The rest is not a matter for the Brazilian government.”
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Cuba’s decision when contacted by Bloomberg News.
While blocked from traveling abroad, Sanchez openly criticizes Castro’s government online, and has emerged as a leader among a group of young dissidents who describe the daily travails life in Cuba through difficult-to-access social media. She was invited to Spain after winning the Ortega y Gasset journalism prize in 2008. Many of her chronicles are published by newspapers throughout Latin America.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-03...razil.html]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15093 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:18:46 -0600 Cubaking http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15093 http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/...story.html]]> http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/...story.html]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15092 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:37:24 -0600 goluboyvagon http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15092 http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=61188

Another Building Collapses in Centro Havana
February 2, 2012

Isbel Diaz Torres

The building in question is located on the centrally located street of Zanja, between Aramburu and Castillejo streets Photo: Isbel Diaz Torres.
HAVANA TIMES, Feb 2 — Another occupied building has collapsed in Havana, this time only partially and with no fatalities, but in the same district of Centro Havana.

This latest cave-in occurred this past Tuesday (January 31), only two weeks in the wake of a shocking and lethal collapse of a nearby building on Infanta Avenue.

The building in question is located on the centrally located street of Zanja, between Aramburu and Castillejo streets, just four blocks from the other occupied property that crumbed on the corner of Infanta and Salud. In that previous tragedy, three people died and six were injured.

Fortunately, this time there were not even injuries, let alone fatalities. One young resident of the building explained to me that the entire bottom portion of the building gave way, destroying several of the rooms.

What’s more, the implosion didn’t occur at once, but gradually, as rooms were demolished one by one. According to statements from neighbors, today the building’s residents decided to move their furniture out into the street, both out of fear that the roof would fall on them and to demonstrate their demand for a solution to this hazardous predicament.

The government sent a truck with pine beams to shore up the units, but residents remain seated on the sidewalk across the street, waiting for a real solution to this serious dilemma involving their homes.

Some of them have already been assigned to public shelters and could be seen loading their belongings into trucks.

Other residents, though, have refused to move into the ill-famed public shelters; they are waiting for a better option from the state. Although they have limited options for the moment, they know that stays in government shelters go on for many years before relocated residents have an opportunity to move into an apartment.

It goes without saying that generally the housing stock in Havana is in very poor condition. Being a 500-year-old city that is the victim of a blockade, the world economic crisis and the indolence of public and private owners, little else could be expected.

The Infanta collapse took place on January 17 and cleanup crews are still working at the site, where those workers have yet to finish demolishing the residual structure or remove all the debris. Meanwhile the block remains closed to traffic as iron barriers have been set up around it and a handful of policemen assigned to the site (though we found them dozing under a portico to escape the midday sun).

When the annual rains come in May, it’s possible that events like these could be repeated as the city’s housing crisis deepens.

From what has been announced, the new formula designed by the government to provide home improvement loans and grants doesn’t allow for major structural work, which is what is required for many of the dilapidated buildings that abound across the capital, particularly in the municipalities of Centro Havana and Old Havana.

Nor has approval been granted for initiatives such as construction worker cooperatives, which is seen by many as a feasible formula for making capital repairs under the direction of the city’s teams of community architects.

Of course many of the buildings are in such deteriorated states of construction that the only plausible solution would be their demolition. This, however, is impossible without a housing option for those people still living in them.]]> http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=61188

Another Building Collapses in Centro Havana
February 2, 2012

Isbel Diaz Torres

The building in question is located on the centrally located street of Zanja, between Aramburu and Castillejo streets Photo: Isbel Diaz Torres.
HAVANA TIMES, Feb 2 — Another occupied building has collapsed in Havana, this time only partially and with no fatalities, but in the same district of Centro Havana.

This latest cave-in occurred this past Tuesday (January 31), only two weeks in the wake of a shocking and lethal collapse of a nearby building on Infanta Avenue.

The building in question is located on the centrally located street of Zanja, between Aramburu and Castillejo streets, just four blocks from the other occupied property that crumbed on the corner of Infanta and Salud. In that previous tragedy, three people died and six were injured.

Fortunately, this time there were not even injuries, let alone fatalities. One young resident of the building explained to me that the entire bottom portion of the building gave way, destroying several of the rooms.

What’s more, the implosion didn’t occur at once, but gradually, as rooms were demolished one by one. According to statements from neighbors, today the building’s residents decided to move their furniture out into the street, both out of fear that the roof would fall on them and to demonstrate their demand for a solution to this hazardous predicament.

The government sent a truck with pine beams to shore up the units, but residents remain seated on the sidewalk across the street, waiting for a real solution to this serious dilemma involving their homes.

Some of them have already been assigned to public shelters and could be seen loading their belongings into trucks.

Other residents, though, have refused to move into the ill-famed public shelters; they are waiting for a better option from the state. Although they have limited options for the moment, they know that stays in government shelters go on for many years before relocated residents have an opportunity to move into an apartment.

It goes without saying that generally the housing stock in Havana is in very poor condition. Being a 500-year-old city that is the victim of a blockade, the world economic crisis and the indolence of public and private owners, little else could be expected.

The Infanta collapse took place on January 17 and cleanup crews are still working at the site, where those workers have yet to finish demolishing the residual structure or remove all the debris. Meanwhile the block remains closed to traffic as iron barriers have been set up around it and a handful of policemen assigned to the site (though we found them dozing under a portico to escape the midday sun).

When the annual rains come in May, it’s possible that events like these could be repeated as the city’s housing crisis deepens.

From what has been announced, the new formula designed by the government to provide home improvement loans and grants doesn’t allow for major structural work, which is what is required for many of the dilapidated buildings that abound across the capital, particularly in the municipalities of Centro Havana and Old Havana.

Nor has approval been granted for initiatives such as construction worker cooperatives, which is seen by many as a feasible formula for making capital repairs under the direction of the city’s teams of community architects.

Of course many of the buildings are in such deteriorated states of construction that the only plausible solution would be their demolition. This, however, is impossible without a housing option for those people still living in them.]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15091 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:31:46 -0600 goluboyvagon http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15091 Fernando Ravsberg


A Cuban state-run restaurant. (Photo: Raquel Perez)
HAVANA TIMES, Feb 2 — Cuba refutes those who believe that Latin Americans lack Germanic accuracy. But it would have to import thousands of precision scales for their food stands, to verify the portions meet the requirements right down to the gram.

Making no attempt to brag on behalf of the island, I don’t think there is a restaurant in Germany that can ensure their fried-rice dish weighs exactly 348 grams, or that their Neapolitan spaghetti will be served up at 406 grams, or when the customer wants an extra slice of ham it will supposedly weigh in at precisely 58 grams.

But things don’t stop there; Cuban vendors manage to bake 406 gram pizzas and I found a street stall selling popular pan con lechon (roast pork) sandwiches that were said to weigh precisely 123.5 grams – not a half gram more or a half gram less than what is required.

I can only imagine the debates between food industry leaders, in the ministries and institutions where they establish such commercial standards. I can almost see them arguing scientifically why a salad should come with 116 grams of vegetables.

That explains the staggering number of work meetings that these agency heads have to attend, and also why every time you ask to see the manager of a restaurant, bar or cafe, the answer is invariably: “Sorry, the comrade is in a meeting.”

But the truth is that while the bosses are engaged in calculating the exact weight of each plate, the food stands lack proper hygiene and napkins, customers are often mistreated and the actual portions are reduced as tons of food disappears through the back door.


Cuban customs marked the bag becuase it contained a pair of tennis shoes. Photo: Raquel Perez
Of course, food service doesn’t have a monopoly on this nonsense. I recently took a trip abroad, and upon arrival my luggage failed to appear. After several days, the airline admitted that my belongings had been withheld by the Cuban customs office.
No one could explain the reason, but the report sounded the alert that a pair of shoes had been detected. I was surprised they had found this suspicious; I can’t imagine that I’m the only passenger traveling with a pair of tennis shoes in their luggage.

Nobody would respond to me, so I went to the main Customs office asking for explanations. I provided them with a letter explaining everything, which they promptly accepted, recorded in a huge logbook of complaints and never responded.

Bad luck at the Havana airport has become a family tradition for us. My younger son’s suitcase also disappeared, never to be seen again, while my older son was questioned just as he got off the plane for having the last name “Ravsberg.”

They’ve now spent four days checking over my “suspicious” pair of shoes, with such dedication making it clear why they don’t have time to stem smuggling, the unauthorized transport of commercial goods, payments under the table, “untouchable” luggage carts or the artificial chaos around baggage handling.


Street venders draw the attention of the official press. Photo: Raquel Perez
Surely it would be useful to the country for the press to investigate these facts instead of wasting space, time and personnel to attack pushcart vendors as if street sales of meats and vegetables were a question of national security.

While most Cubans awaited the outcome of the Conference of the Communist Party, the newspapers as well as the TV news devoted space to criticizing young people who push carts loaded with vegetables through the city’s neighborhoods under the tropical sun.

We will have to see whether they’ll now try to make these vendors out to be culprits behind the nation’s agricultural disaster, its un-served markets, rises in prices, the shortage of food production, delays in seed imports or the irrational system of produce distribution.

These stories reflect a short summary of how some people and institutions are focusing more on the mundane problems instead of seeking solutions to those that really matter. This is what Cubans call being “estar en la boberia” (wrapped up in nonsense).
——
An authorized translation by Havana Times (from the Spanish original) published by BBC Mundo.

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=61174]]> Fernando Ravsberg


A Cuban state-run restaurant. (Photo: Raquel Perez)
HAVANA TIMES, Feb 2 — Cuba refutes those who believe that Latin Americans lack Germanic accuracy. But it would have to import thousands of precision scales for their food stands, to verify the portions meet the requirements right down to the gram.

Making no attempt to brag on behalf of the island, I don’t think there is a restaurant in Germany that can ensure their fried-rice dish weighs exactly 348 grams, or that their Neapolitan spaghetti will be served up at 406 grams, or when the customer wants an extra slice of ham it will supposedly weigh in at precisely 58 grams.

But things don’t stop there; Cuban vendors manage to bake 406 gram pizzas and I found a street stall selling popular pan con lechon (roast pork) sandwiches that were said to weigh precisely 123.5 grams – not a half gram more or a half gram less than what is required.

I can only imagine the debates between food industry leaders, in the ministries and institutions where they establish such commercial standards. I can almost see them arguing scientifically why a salad should come with 116 grams of vegetables.

That explains the staggering number of work meetings that these agency heads have to attend, and also why every time you ask to see the manager of a restaurant, bar or cafe, the answer is invariably: “Sorry, the comrade is in a meeting.”

But the truth is that while the bosses are engaged in calculating the exact weight of each plate, the food stands lack proper hygiene and napkins, customers are often mistreated and the actual portions are reduced as tons of food disappears through the back door.


Cuban customs marked the bag becuase it contained a pair of tennis shoes. Photo: Raquel Perez
Of course, food service doesn’t have a monopoly on this nonsense. I recently took a trip abroad, and upon arrival my luggage failed to appear. After several days, the airline admitted that my belongings had been withheld by the Cuban customs office.
No one could explain the reason, but the report sounded the alert that a pair of shoes had been detected. I was surprised they had found this suspicious; I can’t imagine that I’m the only passenger traveling with a pair of tennis shoes in their luggage.

Nobody would respond to me, so I went to the main Customs office asking for explanations. I provided them with a letter explaining everything, which they promptly accepted, recorded in a huge logbook of complaints and never responded.

Bad luck at the Havana airport has become a family tradition for us. My younger son’s suitcase also disappeared, never to be seen again, while my older son was questioned just as he got off the plane for having the last name “Ravsberg.”

They’ve now spent four days checking over my “suspicious” pair of shoes, with such dedication making it clear why they don’t have time to stem smuggling, the unauthorized transport of commercial goods, payments under the table, “untouchable” luggage carts or the artificial chaos around baggage handling.


Street venders draw the attention of the official press. Photo: Raquel Perez
Surely it would be useful to the country for the press to investigate these facts instead of wasting space, time and personnel to attack pushcart vendors as if street sales of meats and vegetables were a question of national security.

While most Cubans awaited the outcome of the Conference of the Communist Party, the newspapers as well as the TV news devoted space to criticizing young people who push carts loaded with vegetables through the city’s neighborhoods under the tropical sun.

We will have to see whether they’ll now try to make these vendors out to be culprits behind the nation’s agricultural disaster, its un-served markets, rises in prices, the shortage of food production, delays in seed imports or the irrational system of produce distribution.

These stories reflect a short summary of how some people and institutions are focusing more on the mundane problems instead of seeking solutions to those that really matter. This is what Cubans call being “estar en la boberia” (wrapped up in nonsense).
——
An authorized translation by Havana Times (from the Spanish original) published by BBC Mundo.

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=61174]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15090 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:25:20 -0600 Lillian http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15090 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fp1LUVsBfU]]> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fp1LUVsBfU]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15089 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:49:06 -0600 Lillian http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15089 In Manufacturing, a Plan to Lure Jobs Back to America

By ANNIE LOWREY

WASHINGTON — In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for a wide-ranging package of policies to help create American manufacturing jobs, including trade enforcement measures, business tax breaks and worker training programs.

In many ways, the proposal is surprising, as few economists now consider manufacturing a potent engine for job growth in the United States. Manufacturers have added about 330,000 jobs in the country in the last two years. But the growth followed three decades of decline, during which companies like automakers and textile companies slashed payrolls by about 7.5 million. That has led many economists to say the recent turnaround might be nothing more than a correction from the depths of the recession.

But the administration argues that big trends — like rising wages in developing countries, falling wages in America and a weaker dollar — have made moving workers to or keeping workers in the United States a much more viable option. And they say that manufacturers will continue to add jobs domestically, especially with a little help from Washington.

“We have a huge opportunity, at this moment, to bring manufacturing back,” Mr. Obama said in his address to Congress. “But we have to seize it. Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed.”

The proposal stems from a belief that after “a long period where people felt the wind was in our face, the wind is with us,” said Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council. “It’s not fighting against the trends. It’s actually working with them.”

Workers might command relatively high wages in the United States, but wages are climbing rapidly in countries like China and Brazil. High energy prices have increased shipping costs. And manufacturers argue that American workers frequently produce higher-quality goods and that American factories are closer to the markets for more sophisticated goods.

Those trends have led some companies to repatriate manufacturing jobs in the last few years, a development called on-shoring. General Electric has moved production of a water heater to Louisville, Ky., from China, for instance. NCR, a maker of self-service kiosks and automated teller machines, has shifted jobs to Columbus, Ga.

It is difficult to determine how many jobs American manufacturers are sending overseas or bringing back. But in a November survey by MFG.com, a site that connects manufacturers with suppliers, one in five North American manufacturers said they had brought production back from a “low-cost” country, up from about one in 10 manufacturers in early 2010.

Economists said that the administration could help sustain the trend. But they warned that the administration’s proposal seemed unlikely to lead to major job growth, and said that many businesses would continue to hire lower-cost workers overseas.

“We’re not going to get very labor-intensive, relatively low-skilled jobs in America, and I don’t think we want them,” said A. Michael Spence, a professor at New York University and Nobel laureate in economics. “But sometimes it makes sense to have a little help developing technologies that will make us competitive. And sometimes public support for upgrading workers’ skills makes sense.”

“The best we could possibly get is continued modest growth in manufacturing jobs,” said C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a research group in Washington.

Mr. Bergsten noted that manufacturing continued to become more efficient, meaning companies needed fewer and fewer workers. American manufacturers produced roughly the same amount of goods in 2010 as they did a decade before, but they did so with six million fewer employees on their payrolls. Mr. Bergsten also argued that sending jobs to other countries continued to make sense for many global firms. “You’re trying to buck two major trends,” he said.

Some economists also questioned whether Washington should be giving manufacturing a hand at all.

“It’s totally implausible to think that there’s going to be a surge in manufacturing jobs,” said Lawrence F. Katz, an economist at Harvard. Broader measures to improve American infrastructure and education, he said, would be more effective in creating middle-class jobs.

But the White House says that manufacturing offers significant potential for new jobs — jobs that require more skills and offer better pay than the assembly lines 30 or 40 years ago. And the administration says that even modest government incentives might make a difference.

To that end, the administration has put together a far-ranging set of proposals: cutting taxes for manufacturers who produce goods in the United States, taking away tax breaks for businesses that move jobs offshore, doubling a tax deduction for makers of high-tech goods, providing support to businesses investing in areas where factories are closing, expanding worker training programs and creating a new task force to better enforce trade rules and intellectual property rights. Closing a loophole that allows companies to shift profits abroad would pay for the tax credits, the White House says.

It all adds up to what economists might call an industrial policy, the out-of-favor practice of using tariffs, taxes and other measures to help a particular industry. The White House avoids the term — a divisive one, given that it implies that the government is picking winners and losers. Rather, it argues that its proposals are a moderate plan to aid businesses deciding whether to move jobs overseas.

Countries like Germany, Japan and China offer far larger tax breaks and financing support to their manufacturers, the administration argues. Such countries have “been in a bear hug” with manufacturers, said Fred P. Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, a federal agency. “We’ve held them at arm’s length.” The new proposals might help level the playing field, he argued.

He also said a focus on manufacturing and exports might lead to more sustainable growth. “For the last three decades, we’ve relied on the U.S. consumer for growth,” said Mr. Hochberg. “But now we’re seeing growth coming from an investment in infrastructure happening in the emerging economies,” where American manufacturers should be selling their wares and expertise.

The administration also called for a focus on manufacturing because of its positive spillover effects on the broader economy. “We do believe that manufacturing punches above its weight economically,” said Mr. Sperling of the National Economic Council. “Advanced manufacturing is critical to your innovative capacity as a country.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/busine...nted=print]]> In Manufacturing, a Plan to Lure Jobs Back to America

By ANNIE LOWREY

WASHINGTON — In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for a wide-ranging package of policies to help create American manufacturing jobs, including trade enforcement measures, business tax breaks and worker training programs.

In many ways, the proposal is surprising, as few economists now consider manufacturing a potent engine for job growth in the United States. Manufacturers have added about 330,000 jobs in the country in the last two years. But the growth followed three decades of decline, during which companies like automakers and textile companies slashed payrolls by about 7.5 million. That has led many economists to say the recent turnaround might be nothing more than a correction from the depths of the recession.

But the administration argues that big trends — like rising wages in developing countries, falling wages in America and a weaker dollar — have made moving workers to or keeping workers in the United States a much more viable option. And they say that manufacturers will continue to add jobs domestically, especially with a little help from Washington.

“We have a huge opportunity, at this moment, to bring manufacturing back,” Mr. Obama said in his address to Congress. “But we have to seize it. Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed.”

The proposal stems from a belief that after “a long period where people felt the wind was in our face, the wind is with us,” said Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council. “It’s not fighting against the trends. It’s actually working with them.”

Workers might command relatively high wages in the United States, but wages are climbing rapidly in countries like China and Brazil. High energy prices have increased shipping costs. And manufacturers argue that American workers frequently produce higher-quality goods and that American factories are closer to the markets for more sophisticated goods.

Those trends have led some companies to repatriate manufacturing jobs in the last few years, a development called on-shoring. General Electric has moved production of a water heater to Louisville, Ky., from China, for instance. NCR, a maker of self-service kiosks and automated teller machines, has shifted jobs to Columbus, Ga.

It is difficult to determine how many jobs American manufacturers are sending overseas or bringing back. But in a November survey by MFG.com, a site that connects manufacturers with suppliers, one in five North American manufacturers said they had brought production back from a “low-cost” country, up from about one in 10 manufacturers in early 2010.

Economists said that the administration could help sustain the trend. But they warned that the administration’s proposal seemed unlikely to lead to major job growth, and said that many businesses would continue to hire lower-cost workers overseas.

“We’re not going to get very labor-intensive, relatively low-skilled jobs in America, and I don’t think we want them,” said A. Michael Spence, a professor at New York University and Nobel laureate in economics. “But sometimes it makes sense to have a little help developing technologies that will make us competitive. And sometimes public support for upgrading workers’ skills makes sense.”

“The best we could possibly get is continued modest growth in manufacturing jobs,” said C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a research group in Washington.

Mr. Bergsten noted that manufacturing continued to become more efficient, meaning companies needed fewer and fewer workers. American manufacturers produced roughly the same amount of goods in 2010 as they did a decade before, but they did so with six million fewer employees on their payrolls. Mr. Bergsten also argued that sending jobs to other countries continued to make sense for many global firms. “You’re trying to buck two major trends,” he said.

Some economists also questioned whether Washington should be giving manufacturing a hand at all.

“It’s totally implausible to think that there’s going to be a surge in manufacturing jobs,” said Lawrence F. Katz, an economist at Harvard. Broader measures to improve American infrastructure and education, he said, would be more effective in creating middle-class jobs.

But the White House says that manufacturing offers significant potential for new jobs — jobs that require more skills and offer better pay than the assembly lines 30 or 40 years ago. And the administration says that even modest government incentives might make a difference.

To that end, the administration has put together a far-ranging set of proposals: cutting taxes for manufacturers who produce goods in the United States, taking away tax breaks for businesses that move jobs offshore, doubling a tax deduction for makers of high-tech goods, providing support to businesses investing in areas where factories are closing, expanding worker training programs and creating a new task force to better enforce trade rules and intellectual property rights. Closing a loophole that allows companies to shift profits abroad would pay for the tax credits, the White House says.

It all adds up to what economists might call an industrial policy, the out-of-favor practice of using tariffs, taxes and other measures to help a particular industry. The White House avoids the term — a divisive one, given that it implies that the government is picking winners and losers. Rather, it argues that its proposals are a moderate plan to aid businesses deciding whether to move jobs overseas.

Countries like Germany, Japan and China offer far larger tax breaks and financing support to their manufacturers, the administration argues. Such countries have “been in a bear hug” with manufacturers, said Fred P. Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, a federal agency. “We’ve held them at arm’s length.” The new proposals might help level the playing field, he argued.

He also said a focus on manufacturing and exports might lead to more sustainable growth. “For the last three decades, we’ve relied on the U.S. consumer for growth,” said Mr. Hochberg. “But now we’re seeing growth coming from an investment in infrastructure happening in the emerging economies,” where American manufacturers should be selling their wares and expertise.

The administration also called for a focus on manufacturing because of its positive spillover effects on the broader economy. “We do believe that manufacturing punches above its weight economically,” said Mr. Sperling of the National Economic Council. “Advanced manufacturing is critical to your innovative capacity as a country.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/busine...nted=print]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15088 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:55:50 -0600 Cubaking http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15088
At the beginning of this process of relaxation and expansion in this area in October 2010, there were only 157 371 self employed persons.]]>
At the beginning of this process of relaxation and expansion in this area in October 2010, there were only 157 371 self employed persons.]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15086 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:58:15 -0600 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15086 http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/01/26...ption.html

By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com

The Cuban government is summoning top loyalists to private showings of a video on the evils of corruption, singled out by ruler Raúl Castro in many speeches as the main threat to the survival of the revolution.

The video details some of the island’s ongoing corruption investigations, according to Havana residents who spoke with officials who watched it.

Castro appeared to confirm the video when he lashed out at corruption during a lengthy section of his Sunday speech to the Communist Party of Cuba: “In the last few weeks, deputies to the National Assembly and many cadres and functionaries around the country have received lots of information on some investigations on this issue.”

Castro also repeated his argument that corruption was “one of the principal enemies of the revolution, much more prejudicial” than the U.S. government’s “subversive” campaign to assist pro-democracy and civil-society activists on the island.

Cuba has used privately shown videos in the past to disseminate allegations against top government officials, such as the unguarded banter about Fidel Castro’s succession that led to the dismissal of Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and others in 2009.

Corruption has long been a scourge on the island, with foreign companies paying bribes to senior island officials who sign off on large deals, and average Cubans pilfering state goods, such as gasoline and construction materials.

Castro cracked down on the corruption after he succeeded ailing brother Fidel in 2006, creating the post of comptroller general to audit government offices and state-run enterprises.

Some of the scandals involved Cuba’s telecommunications, aviation, nickel, cigar, construction, and other industries, and have reportedly led to the arrests or dismissals of scores of government officials.

Caught in the crackdown have been the British-owned Coral Capital Group, a trading company that had announced plans to invest $1 billion, and two Canadian companies, the Tokmakjian Group and Tri-Star Caribbean.

Castro told the Communist Party of Cuba’s weekend gathering that details of the corruption cases will be made public “at the appropriate time, after the courts rule.”

He added that the Cubans under investigation are “frequently” party members, and noted that changes in party rules will allow their immediate expulsion — once a sanction reserved for treason and other grave crimes.


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/01/26...rylink=cpy]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/01/26...ption.html

By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com

The Cuban government is summoning top loyalists to private showings of a video on the evils of corruption, singled out by ruler Raúl Castro in many speeches as the main threat to the survival of the revolution.

The video details some of the island’s ongoing corruption investigations, according to Havana residents who spoke with officials who watched it.

Castro appeared to confirm the video when he lashed out at corruption during a lengthy section of his Sunday speech to the Communist Party of Cuba: “In the last few weeks, deputies to the National Assembly and many cadres and functionaries around the country have received lots of information on some investigations on this issue.”

Castro also repeated his argument that corruption was “one of the principal enemies of the revolution, much more prejudicial” than the U.S. government’s “subversive” campaign to assist pro-democracy and civil-society activists on the island.

Cuba has used privately shown videos in the past to disseminate allegations against top government officials, such as the unguarded banter about Fidel Castro’s succession that led to the dismissal of Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and others in 2009.

Corruption has long been a scourge on the island, with foreign companies paying bribes to senior island officials who sign off on large deals, and average Cubans pilfering state goods, such as gasoline and construction materials.

Castro cracked down on the corruption after he succeeded ailing brother Fidel in 2006, creating the post of comptroller general to audit government offices and state-run enterprises.

Some of the scandals involved Cuba’s telecommunications, aviation, nickel, cigar, construction, and other industries, and have reportedly led to the arrests or dismissals of scores of government officials.

Caught in the crackdown have been the British-owned Coral Capital Group, a trading company that had announced plans to invest $1 billion, and two Canadian companies, the Tokmakjian Group and Tri-Star Caribbean.

Castro told the Communist Party of Cuba’s weekend gathering that details of the corruption cases will be made public “at the appropriate time, after the courts rule.”

He added that the Cubans under investigation are “frequently” party members, and noted that changes in party rules will allow their immediate expulsion — once a sanction reserved for treason and other grave crimes.


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/01/26...rylink=cpy]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15085 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:07:40 -0600 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15085 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73qU6YdeI64

OK, its not Cuban. A concert where the audience sings the song to the band? Priceless. And for the musicians here or the afecionados, or like me, the lowly drummer that can tell his friends he hangs out with musicians once in awhile, very well played...

And for those of us that from time to time, may insist our wives drive us home after a nice gathering, the title says it all. G_d bless the ladies!

---

OK, a sample fo the band...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrG_R-fCI...ure=fvwrel]]> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73qU6YdeI64

OK, its not Cuban. A concert where the audience sings the song to the band? Priceless. And for the musicians here or the afecionados, or like me, the lowly drummer that can tell his friends he hangs out with musicians once in awhile, very well played...

And for those of us that from time to time, may insist our wives drive us home after a nice gathering, the title says it all. G_d bless the ladies!

---

OK, a sample fo the band...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrG_R-fCI...ure=fvwrel]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15084 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:53:15 -0600 Lillian http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15084
First Posted: 02/ 1/2012 2:12 pm Updated: 02/ 1/2012 3:52 pm

.

In the summer of 1865, a former slave by the name of Jourdan Anderson sent a letter to his former master. And 147 years later, the document reads as richly as it must have back then.

The roughly 800-word letter, which has resurfaced via various blogs, websites, Twitter and Facebook, is a response to a missive from Colonel P.H. Anderson, Jourdan's former master back in Big Spring, Tennessee. Apparently, Col. Anderson had written Jourdan asking him to come on back to the big house to work.

In a tone that could be described either as "impressively measured" or "the deadest of deadpan comedy," the former slave, in the most genteel manner, basically tells the old slave master to kiss his rear end. He laments his being shot at by Col. Anderson when he fled slavery, the mistreatment of his children and that there "was never pay-day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows."

Below is Jourdan’s letter in full, as it appears on lettersofnote.com. To take a look at what appears to be a scan of the original letter, which appeared in an August 22, 1865 edition of the New York Daily Tribune, click here. As Letters Of Note points out, the newspaper account makes clear that the letter was dictated.

Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

From your old servant,

Jourdon Anderson.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01..._ref=false]]>
First Posted: 02/ 1/2012 2:12 pm Updated: 02/ 1/2012 3:52 pm

.

In the summer of 1865, a former slave by the name of Jourdan Anderson sent a letter to his former master. And 147 years later, the document reads as richly as it must have back then.

The roughly 800-word letter, which has resurfaced via various blogs, websites, Twitter and Facebook, is a response to a missive from Colonel P.H. Anderson, Jourdan's former master back in Big Spring, Tennessee. Apparently, Col. Anderson had written Jourdan asking him to come on back to the big house to work.

In a tone that could be described either as "impressively measured" or "the deadest of deadpan comedy," the former slave, in the most genteel manner, basically tells the old slave master to kiss his rear end. He laments his being shot at by Col. Anderson when he fled slavery, the mistreatment of his children and that there "was never pay-day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows."

Below is Jourdan’s letter in full, as it appears on lettersofnote.com. To take a look at what appears to be a scan of the original letter, which appeared in an August 22, 1865 edition of the New York Daily Tribune, click here. As Letters Of Note points out, the newspaper account makes clear that the letter was dictated.

Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

From your old servant,

Jourdon Anderson.


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