It wasn't Castro who...

If people want to talk about what a tyrannical dictator Fidel Castro was, in the wake of his death, they really need to clean up their own yard first.

It wasn't Castro who outlawed chewing gum. That was Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew - a darling of America's Far Right. (Gum is actually very popular in Cuba.)

It wasn't Castro who used psychiatric prisons to detain dissidents without a trial. That was the Bush crime family.

It wasn't Castro who started illegal wars with Iraq. Again, the Bush royal family.

It wasn't Castro who banned Fahrenheit 9/11. That was the Bushes' friends in Kuwait.

It wasn't Castro who forced me to wait years for adequate health care or a dental visit, or who sold drugs to a neighbor. It wasn't Castro who arrested me for "trespassing" for using a university library, or who blacklisted me from more lucrative employment. I'd appreciate it if I didn't need political connections just to be hired to clean a damn toilet at a store.

Look, if you're gonna criticize a country's leader as too authoritarian, at least be fair enough to criticize other leaders. The Bushes were not simply authoritarian. They were totalitarian. That's worse. It's like the difference between Guardian Angel and Brossart.

So cool it with the hypocrisy.

Ironically, the U.S. government squandered over $1 billion trying to assassinate or overthrow Castro - yet he managed to outlive most of the people behind these efforts.