Subtle Lede of the Day
This is the lede of the ODE’s front-page story on Ben Linder, a university student who was killed by contras while working in Nicaragua (emphasis mine):
Inspired by the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a socialist political party that ruled Nicaragua in the 1980s and helped some of the nation’s poorest people, Ben Linder of Portland moved to Nicaragua after graduating from the University of Washington in 1983.
That’s odd, considering what the Library of Congress Country Study on Nicaragua has to say (once again, emphasis mine):
In its eleven years in power, the Sandinista government never overcame most of the economic inequalities that it inherited from the Somoza era. Years of war, policy missteps, natural disasters, and the effects of the United States trade embargo all hindered economic development. The early economic gains of the Sandinistas were wiped out by seven years of sometimes precipitous economic decline, and in 1990, by most standards, Nicaragua and most Nicaraguans were considerably poorer than they were in the 1970s.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Well, if it weren’t for American meddling, Nicaragua would be a paradise right now. You know, just life if the US dropped its embargo Cuba would be one of the best places on Earth to live, thanks to the sage social and economic policies and humble wisdom of Castro.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I think the ASUO Office should be renamed the Stalin Room.
Whoops, I’m not allowed to make jokes anymore.
Is the new issue off to print yet?!
April 25th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Nah. The ASUO Office should be renamed the Unisex Bathroom. All the crap from both men and women collect there…or did before Sam and Johnny won.
In fact, for most people, it’ll still be there…>_>
April 25th, 2008 at 7:50 am
“You know, just life if the US dropped its embargo Cuba would be one of the best places on Earth to live…”
It would be a pretty good goddamn start, don’t you think?
April 25th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
“It would be a pretty good goddamn start, don’t you think?”
I’m not against lifting the embargo per se, but that’s mainly because I think it serves little purpose. I’m certainly not convinced by the argument that the US embargo, which much of the rest of the world ignores, is really to blame for Cuba’s economy.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Seems like there is no purpose lifting or keeping the embargo. So why not err on the side of less government regulation and just lift it?
Then they won’t have anyone to blame for their economy…except themselves, history, and Communism.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
You’ll see the embargo rescinded once Fidel actually dies. Raul is a closet America-Lover.
April 25th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
The US embargo is a handy PR tool for Fidel, beyond that nothing.