UPDATE: Ozzie Guillen suspended five games

[jr/shotglass]

No, you smooched at me. No taking that back.

 

[YankeeFan]

How many of those outraged Cubans go to their local Walmart to buy a bunch of cheap shirt made in China?

Lots. It says something for the political clout of the Cuban community.

Is that a bad thing? We celebrate the political clout of other ethnic minorities. What's wrong with Cuban-Americans having political clout.

The Chinese community hasn't been nearly as politically active. That's actually changing in places like new York City, Seattle, etc. They're more organized.

Though, I'm not sure that they would endorse a trade embargo with China.

I hate our forking policy towards China. It's a brutal, murderous, repressive, dictatorship.

That doesn't mean we should lift our embargo with Cuba. if Cuba wanted to open up, every cruise ship would stop there. Billions of dollars would be invested overnight. Tourism would be huge. Exiles would move home -- especially retirees who would want to live in their homeland once again, or even for the first time.

The ball is in their court, and has been for 50 years.

 

[YankeeFan]

No matter what, you just can't keep my name out of your mouth. Probably the most exciting thing you'll do today.

LOL. He edited his post to add that. Awesome.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

OK. It's an argument that could be made in myriad instances where somebody's career was changed because the worst intentions were culled out of some statement they made. And I'm not saying Ozzie's career is going to be changed by this, but you know the history I'm talking about.

YF, no need to bring Penn State into this. That's a Piotr kind of move.

No matter what, you just can't keep my name out of your mouth.

No matter what, you just can't keep my name out of your mouth. Probably the most exciting thing you'll do today.

LOL. He edited his post to add that. Awesome.

I challenge Shortbus to dispute that.

 

[jr/shotglass]

How many of those outraged Cubans go to their local Walmart to buy a bunch of cheap shirt made in China?

Lots. It says something for the political clout of the Cuban community.

Is that a bad thing? We celebrate the political clout of other ethnic minorities. What's wrong with Cuban-Americans having political clout.

The Chinese community hasn't been nearly as politically active. That's actually changing in places like new York City, Seattle, etc. They're more organized.

Though, I'm not sure that they would endorse a trade embargo with China.

I hate our forking policy towards China. It's a brutal, murderous, repressive, dictatorship.

That doesn't mean we should lift our embargo with Cuba. if Cuba wanted to open up, every cruise ship would stop there. Billions of dollars would be invested overnight. Tourism would be huge. Exiles would move home -- especially retirees who would want to live in their homeland once again, or even for the first time.

The ball is in their court, and has been for 50 years.

Really? You're going to make the Ozzie Guillen thread a referendum about China?

Go back to Joe Paterno.

 

[zagoshe]

How many of those outraged Cubans go to their local Walmart to buy a bunch of cheap shirt made in China?

This.

And further - the fact that people have tried to compare this to drug sentencing laws, child rapists, people using the "N-word" only strengthens my point because the argument for suspending him is so weak, that people must go to the ridiculous examples and use "apples to oranges" comparisons in order to try and muddy the central issue here.

Ozzie Guillen did not use a racial slur. He did not insult a race. He didn't commit a crime. He didn't advocate committing a crime. He didn't criticize officials of baseball or umpires.

He simply voiced his opinion about a dictator and since it isn't an opinion that the politically correct whiny asshole crowd agrees with, the powers that be were forced to pander and come up with this silly meaningless suspension.

It is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who was supposedly insulted.

 

[Azrael]

It's possible to assert that it was a stupid thing to say, and still argue that the suspension was uncalled for.

 

[BTExpress]

When people are jumping into makeshift rafts with the idea that they will either land in Florida or die and both options are better than staying in Cuba, you bet your ass the rank-and-file have a seething hatred of Castro and don't want to see the manager of their favorite ballclub admiring him.

OK, "they don't want to see the manager of their favorite ballclub admiring him."

Well, guess what? Short of firing him, that's exactly what they have. His (IMO) very qualified "admiration" was first noted in 2008 and has not changed and will not change, regardless of any fines or suspensions.

So what benefits, exactly --- TANGIBLE BENEFITS --- will the seething rank-and-file Cuban community receive when all is said and done?

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

It's the outrage among the Cuban community in Miami that is putting pressure on the "movers and shakers" to discipline Ozzie. As noted earlier, he has previously made similar comments in Chicago with no uproar whatsoever. You say that in Miami and, yeah, a good percentage of the population is going to get upset and threaten boycotts, etc.

And I say the rank and file is not threatening those boycotts. It's a bunch of people in nice offices who are telling the rank and file they should be insulted.

So . . .

You think Cubans living in Miami need to be prodded to be upset that the manager of their local baseball team said something favorable about Fidel Castro? Your conclusion is that well-to-do movers and shakers have caused this outrage in the Cuban community?

If you're not making a feeble attempt at sarcasm or simple contrarianism here, you might wanna sit this discussion out.

It's possible to assert that it was a stupid thing to say, and still argue that the suspension was uncalled for.

Sure.

But I can see why the Marlins felt they had to make some kind of statement. Five games of 162 is a drop in the bucket. Now the Marlins can at least try to assure themselves that they have made a connection with the community's desires.

 

[YankeeFan]

Really? You're going to make the Ozzie Guillen thread a referendum about China?

Go back to Joe Paterno.

No. I'm not at all.

But lots of people -- including Jones & MacGregor on their twitter feeds -- have tsk-tsk'ed folks for being upset about this, as if it's childish, especially given our China policy.

So, is it our Cuba policy that's wrong, or our China policy?

We've created Congressional districts -- with crazy boundaries -- specifically to create African-American majorities, and Hispanic-American majorities. We claim to care about minority rights and issues, but when it comes to the issues of Cuban-Americans, we find fault. Its all about "pandering" politicians.

Maybe the folks who like minority politics & "diversity" only like them when we're talking about left wing politics. Let's face it, the political resentment aimed at the Cuban community is strictly based on their voting the "wrong" way. (Though they are not the Republican voting block they used to be. Their vote is much more in play now.)

If they voted Democrat, they would just be part of the beautiful mosaic that makes up the Democrat Party.

 

[zagoshe]

It's possible to assert that it was a stupid thing to say, and still argue that the suspension was uncalled for.

I agree.

It was a stupid thing to say. It is a dumb thing to believe. But this suspension is a sham.

 

[jr/shotglass]

You think Cubans living in Miami need to be prodded to be upset that the manager of their local baseball team said something favorable about Fidel Castro? Your conclusion is that well-to-do movers and shakers have caused this outrage in the Cuban community?

And some of you thought he had no reading comprehension.