¡Amigos para siempre! (Means you'll always be my friend.)

[Thanks to Don Shaolin in the comments for the assistance with my Spanish.]

——-

As predictable as Michelle Bachmann introducing a complete Obamacare repeal, über-liberal representative José Serrano of New York introduced a repeal of the 22nd Amendment, the one that instituted presidential term limits.

Now, to be sure, as SooperMexican notes, Serrano’s repeal has less chance of passing than Bachmann’s, which has none in the current Congress, because a constitutional amendment needs two-thirds of the House and the Senate plus ratification from three quarters of the states—thirty-eight of them. Bachmann’s measure, however, would merely need majorities in both houses plus the president’s signature or an override of his veto. Bachmann’s repeal could get a majority in the House before it dies in the Senate. Serrano’s repeal of the 22nd Amendment would be hard-pressed to get the necessary 67 senators, if it got there. It won’t: it’ll die in committee in the House, like it did in 2011.

So neither is mathematically possible at this point.

But one would be good for America. The other would allow Barack Obama to run for president again and again.

But if we’re looking for amendments relating to term limits, let’s limit terms for senators and representatives as well.

Not if you’re the Castro boys. They, instead, look for another, wealthier, nation to suck up to and live off of. For the past 10+ years that nation has been Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. Now that the Venezuelan strong man is in seriously deteriorating health, Cuba is worried for itself.

“‘Venezuela today represents what the Soviet Union used to until 1990,’ said Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a dissident economist in Cuba, the Americas’ only Communist-ruled one-party state.”

What an indictment of both Cuba and Venezuela! If you are dependent on such murderous regimes you have a problem. If you can so easily be likened to one, that’s not a good thing, either. The Soviet Union had the blood of hundreds of millions on its communist-red hands—many times the number killed by the Nazis in the holocaust. Dissidents were disappeared into the gulags, never to be heard from again. Two nations that bear a resemblance to it today are North Korea of the Kim dynasty and, well, Cuba.

The article continues, noting that the infrastructure is far worse now than it was in 1990 when the Soviet aid dried up, and that Cuba would be hard-pressed to afford its daily intake of oil at market prices, as opposed to the deeply subsidized oil they get from Chavez.

The stark reality? Probably not. But again, this should indicate a problem with their own system rather than with the world around them. Other peoples in other nations manage to afford oil, why not Cubans? A large, contiguous, tropical island like that could probably support an industry or two to make a dime, if the people were allowed to.

Indeed, in the very next breath the author of the article notes,

Much has changed in eastern Europe, Russia and China since the end of the Cold War, with economies opening up in varying degrees to market forces and foreign investment, driving impressive growth rates.

But Cuba, which two decades ago abruptly lost 85 percent of the foreign trade it largely conducted with its former socialist allies, still has a cash-strapped centrally-planned government-run economy.

And still cannot see past its own nose, apparently.

The only reason Cuba did not go completely under water after the collapse of Soviet Communism was the emergence of their new sugar daddy, Hugo Chavez.

When the Soviet Union came crumbling down, Cuba’s economy hit a standstill as subsidized food, fuel and raw materials all suddenly stopped arriving — while the island remained under the same US trade sanctions as before.

Cuba’s government called it the “Special Period” and Cubans remember it as a time when food was in such short supply that hungry parents passed anything they could get on to their children.

In an often sweltering Caribbean nation of 11 million, blackouts became so much the norm that Cubans coined the phrase “Light-ons” to refer to periods when oil-powered plants were switched back on.

Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro — now retired but then still president — presided over what amounted to wartime crisis economy.

Fuel was rationed; food grown in the countryside was rotting there and not making it to cities; long lines snaked around blocks for public transport, and shortages of food, clothing and soap were common.

Some women shaved their heads in dismay when they had no shampoo or conditioner to care for it.

And yet, somehow, they failed to connect the dots: countries that opened their markets and relaxed political restrictions saw a marked improvement in quality of life—they had shampoo!—while their own economy deteriorated.

Though the government never officially declared the Special Period over [because government declarations are what end recessions, not an improving economy -- Tom Crowe], once Castro-ally Chavez had come to power in Venezuela in 1999, the Cuban economy edged towards stability.

But that cozy relationship is in jeopardy with Chavez’s failing health.

“I think the average Cuban, whatever they think about politics, is feeling the potential loss of the bolstering of the Cuban regime that Venezuela does,” he said.

“Cubans really do not want to go through the Special Period’s really tough times again, with blackouts and all that.”

I’ve got a great idea: get rid of the thugs who have their boot on your neck. Flourish as you are capable.

Lesson: if you want prosperity don’t be autocratic socialists like Cuba and North Korea.

The Korean peninsula at night. The democratic, capitalistic Republic of Korea has lights, while autocratic, socialist Democratic People Republic of Korea does not, outside of the capital, Pyongyang.

Writing in the Huffington Post, Penn had said that it was a “defamation” to refer to Chavez as a dictator.

“This is not a dictator supported by the wealthy classes, but rather, a president elected by the impoverished and at the service of the Venezuelan constitution, a document not unlike our own. He is a flamboyant, passionate leader,” wrote Penn.

Ozzie Guillen would have none of this. Born in Ocumare Del Tuy, Venezuela, the manager of the White Sox slammed Penn:

“Sean penn if you love venezuela please move to venezuela for a year. But rent a house in guarenas or guatire to see how long you last clown.”

Most Americans are ignorant of Hugo Chavez’ outrageous actions. So they might be susceptible to believing Sean Penn’s wild assertions. I’m glad to see some push back from Ozzie Guillen.

For a great write-up on Hugo Chavez, don’t read Sean Penn. Instead opt for “Hugo Chavez: Anti-Catholic, Narcissist, Leninist” in The Catholic Thing written by George Marlin.