So Castro has ceded power to his brother. Looks like he's probably going to kick it. The really bad thing, I suppose, is that his brother (or so I've read) has been Fidel's enforcer and is supposed to be even more hard line than Fidel.

I wonder what this all means in he grand scheme of things.

Umm, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that he's "probably gonna kick it" so soon. It's pretty much standard practice for a leader to go through the motions of transferring power to whoever is #2 if they're going for surgery (didn't Clinton do it? Or was it Bush Sr.?).

Of course, he will eventually die, unless the cigars have made him immortal. Will it mean immediate change? Doubtful. But even if his brother's a bigger jerk, the odds of him having the charismatic power that Fidel has are pretty slim, so there will be an opportunity to instigate change (hopefully it will come from within).

Of course I am aware of that. The reports are simply that his health problems are getting more severe. Intestinal bleeding in a man who turns 80 in less than two weeks is not a good sign I'm sure, though I am no doctor. And I would also suppose that any news as to his condition coming out of Cuba would be well watered down.

Maybe you could find a videotape of him in his hospital bed and you could do a Frist analysis of his condition...

:D

I read a book once of CIA intelligence gathering techniques. Some leader from somewhere or another was coming to the US (who and when I don't recall). When it was known where he was going to be staying, the CIA rerouted the pipe from the toilet in his suite so that when it flushed it would go to a special holding tank so they could analyze the contents for any health related issues they were unaware of.

Ewwww!

If nothing else, the CIA has a pretty comprehensive list of world leaders who don't properly chew their corn.

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A rather interesting day in elections around the country today. I'm not one to typically follow Democrat primaries in other states, but there are two huge and interesting races out there.

In Connecticut, incumbant Senator Joe Leiberman is facing defeat, though he had closed ground in the polls in the last day or two. He is being challanged by a vehemently antiwar candidate. Leiberman will run as an Independent in the general (or so the general concensus is) should he lose. Connecticut has TONS of Independents. I find this race to be really interesting. If Leiberman loses the primary, I see him winning the general as an Independent. If he wins the primary, that has interesting ramifications as well. It could be seen as a bit of a slap in the face to the antiwar left, as the entire campaign run by his challenger is about the war, as they have pretty much everything else in common.

Then good old psycho Representative Cynthia McKinney in GA is probably facing defeat in her primary. I don't think this has any interesting political ramifications, I just think the woman is unstable and her district has had enough of her. I'm glad her challenger is African American so that when she loses she can't cry racism.

I think Leiberman will lose as an Independant. He's coming across as not knowing what he is right now. That's not a good thing. I say good riddance. Get someone in there who is actually a Democrat.

McKinney's weird.