Odds and ends

• Not that I aspire to run an election analysis blog, but when the Clinton-Obama flap about dealing with dictators occurred, I scored the fight in Hillary’s favor. Each side apparently sees advantage in it, because each side keeps the flap going. A view contrary to mine is here, at Uncommon Sense.

• Armengol went on vacation but not before filing a column, “El marabú del exilio,” that should hold everyone until he returns.

• If you want to see the full range of Cuban American opinion on U.S. migration policy, and quite a few comments on how it relates to U.S. attempts to foster change in Cuba, check this out at Babalu. One thing that comes through is resentment toward Cubans who arrived here recently and return to visit family, based on their alleged hypocrisy for coming here as refugees fleeing repression and returning to the place that repressed them. The problem is that the vast majority of Cubans who come here are not refugees or asylees under our law. That is, they don’t get in by making any claim about persecution, nor are they asked to make such a claim, so there’s nothing for them to be hypocritical about. Either they get a normal immigrant visa from the U.S. consulate, or they just arrive without visas, which makes them illegal immigrants. Then they are paroled in, which makes them legal. Then they are treated under our social services system as if they were refugees, which may account for the confusion. An earlier discussion of this is here.

• In Hudson County, what sounds like a very nice ten-piece band of the old school sprouts up. Cubanoson’s website is here.

• A word of explanation: On very few occasions, I have deleted comments posted on this blog. Once because a comment was in bad taste, and every other time because the comments, to my amazement, were spam.