King County Council member Dwight Pelz isn't a Communist he's a Commie Pinko. (Seattle P-I, 4-11-02, 'County could build ties with Cuban people')
A Communist comes right out and says he's a Communist. A big, bold red statement. A Commie Pinko on the other hand doesn't really have the courage of his Communist convictions. He just likes the elitist ideology of it, how it sounds as it drivels off his tongue while sipping Chardoney at some tax payer funded gala. Hence, his defense of Communism isn't big, bold or red but a washed out pink.
Unfortunately the cowardliness of Commie Pinkos does not make them any less dangerous to democracy, in fact it makes them more so.
Let's help Council member Pelz say what he really wanted to in his editorial about Communist Cuba if he'd only had the courage.
Pelz: "I recently led a delegation from King COunty to Cuba and Granma Province on a fact-finding mission....I met hundreds of wonderful people who love Americans but scorn the American government." Translation: I scorn the American government even though I have made my living off of it most of my adult life. I hate our Democratic Republic and think Communism is superior. In my effort to sell you on Communism I will ignore the facts.
Pelz: "I encountered safe streets with a steady police presence." Translation: I saw first hand how safe a police state can make Communist Party members feel.
Pelz: "I saw poverty but not hunger." Translation: We eat too much in America. In Cuba the government rations food to the masses. That's the way it should be. However government employees, like Castro, are exempt from such rations and I agree with that.
Pelz: "[While in Cuba] we passed Carlos and his family who were riding (all three) on their family transportation, an old bicycle." Translation: I hate cars when other people own them. I use mine responsibly but most citizens don't, plus they are too fat anyway and need the exercise they'd get if they rode a bike. In the long run they'd be better off carless.
Pelz: "Carlos was supportive of the Castro government...." Translation: I support Communism and love what Castro has done with it.
Pelz: "We found support for Castro." Translation: The hundreds of thousands who have braved the ocean to escape communist Cuba and Castro didn't know what they were doing. While we were being wined and dined by Cuban Communists they paraded people in front of us who loved communism.
Pelz: "I romantically believe that America would benefit if the Garfield High Jazz Band could travel to the city of Bayamo, Granma and demonstrate to Cubans the beauty of American Jazz." Translation: What's important here is the romantic Communist ideology. If you ignore the facts, that Cubans are forbidden the right to travel, the human rights violations that Castro inflicts, the poverty, the police state, the lack of free speech, Communism looks pretty good and that's what's important. Plus I'm getting a lot of press coverage out of this Cuba stuff but some of it's a little too hot for me. If I could drag some kids into it, like the Garfield Jazz Band, I could hide behind them. Instead of debating the virtues of Communism or acknowledging the terror of living under it I could just says things like, "It's for the kids" and "Can't we just all get along?".
Clearly Mr. Pelz did not travel the Elian Route on his trip to Cuba.
Linda Jordan