Cuba Again

According to The Guardian on Friday (June 3), the American National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed Ernest Hemingway’s house on the list of America’s most endangered historic places. The house is now a museum housing Hemingway’s books and manuscripts.

What’s interesting is that this house is located in Cuba.

What’s also interesting is that the Bush administration has denied permission for money to be spent on restoring this home. Evidently, restoring this museum will boost the Cuban economy, something America simply can’t allow.

Mark my words (mark them…mark them good! Um…mark them well…), one day, probably not to far from now, someone intelligent will realize that the tiny island of Cuba really isn’t a threat to America anymore. I mean, if George Bush can stand in Red Square next to Vladimir Putin and watch a VE Day parade, that pretty much rules out the possibility of the Soviets putting missiles in Cuba…right?

You should have seen the looks I got when I told a couple of my students that Americans were prohibited from visiting Cuba. (Okay, since it’s a Treasury Department ban, technically, I suppose the prohibition is on spending any money there, but it basically amounts to the same thing.)