Si, Fidel

The new Cuba was invented in the heady Days of Aquarius, two generations back, and left-wing America cheered, as it cheered all things statist, from Hanoi to Peking to Moscow.

But Cuba was even more enchanting.  At last, a pattern of lovely, cuddly  government right in our own hemisphere.

Pete Seegar and his Guantanamera haunted much of a nation which somehow got the idea it was a revolutionary hymn rather than a routine Tin-Pan-Alley lament by a guy who couldn't get the girl.

Our consciousness was especially raised by frantically caring celebrities orgasmic over the revolucion of Fidel and Che.

Harry Belafonte, representative of the gushers:  If you believe in  freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro.

Other true believers in the Cuban Miracle included  Chevy Chase, Kevin Costner, Oliver Stone, Stephen Spielberg, Vanessa Redgrave, all ready on a second's notice to lecture us as to why socialist dictatorships work so well.

Their pronouncements  did not, unfortunately reach the ears of selected Cuban citizens, the  Castro Gulag not being wired for cable.

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Uh oh.


 "The Cuban Model doesn't even work for us anymore. -- Fidel Castro, speaking to Jeffery Goldberg of The Atlantic.

There is another point of  interest in Goldberg's fawning essay on his conversation with Fidel.

We can wonder why he seems so delighted with this old thief, jailer, torturer, and mass murderer who almost single-handedly destroyed every productive human being and institution on his island. Maybe it was because Jeffie was so delighted with himself for charming ol'  Fidel into inviting him along on a dolphin-gawking  party.

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Raul Castro, the little brother now in charge, is quoted  as saying  Cuban citizens will need to demand less of government. We are entitled to wish for even remotely similar words from a the presidente of a country just 90 miles off Cuban shores.

Range Note

The tourists were gone and the locals hard at work, leaving the range empty yesterday. Daughter, son-in-law and old man took advantage and monopolized the 25-yard range for a couple of hours, shooting the SS Colt 1911 and some of the guns that don't see enough use.

Dave favored the Winchester '94 but  did his best work with the 1911 -- one group just under four inches with one in the x-ring, making for a near tie between spouses.  I decline the honor of referring the  point about who shot better.

Then there was the BL22, a rifle I like a lot and one I would nominate for a  high place in the list of best-machined lever-actions ever. We didn't get compulsive about measuring the Browning's groups, just ran 60 or 70 rounds through it Chuck Conners style, fast and offhand.

My personal satisfaction peaked with the three-screw SA .22. You may recall me grousing here about the shoddy Ruger work and non-existent customer service installing the "safety" conversion. The home-brew fix  worked fine. My only regret is forgetting to bring the Stetson to round out the six-shooter and Buscadero rig. Next time.

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For what it is worth, these two young folks are not totally unknown as players in the MSM, and you can safely bet that they won't let some cop or Brady-ite  get away with calling a 10-22 an assault rifle in their pages.

Not everyone can be lucky enough to raise a weapons-aware news kid, but you can always invite one  to go shooting with you.

Range Kids

A well-known news editor hones her management style.

With the de-lawyered  SS Colt  Series 70 and his father-in-law's  hand loads, a chief photographer explains to senior management  why the photo should go above the fold.

Similar persuasive device is the carbine version. Orginally conceived as a tool for annoying hoplopobes by its very existence, it does't shoot all that badly.

A closer photo would better show braggability.The young lady hasn't shot a rifled weapon  in years. Five shots were scattered over four inches at 25 yards, with one centered in the X ring.

Terror Bear

Found in  trash can at the public range yesterday. He lives here now.

We call him Ursama bin Laden.