out of our yearly budget since the organization receives around 30,000,000 annually for producing and staffing and running both TV and Radio Marti, and the utterly vicious, Republican Cuban "exile" Congressman from Miami, Lincoln Diaz-Balart attacked him in his own state's press after telling him he would destroy every project Skaggs found near and dear.
He sent vilifications of David Skaggs to newspapers in his own home state, pointing out how Skaggs was responsible for losing some big money projects, and attacking him, and Skaggs lost his next election and got out of politics.
7/1/93 After having funds for Radio and TV Marti deleted in a closed mark-up session, the House Appropriations Committee restores funds for Radio Marti but not TV Marti (CAC, 6/22/93; CM, 6/25/93; MH, 6/25/93). Rep. Diaz-Balart succeeds in cutting $23 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in an effort to repay Rep. David Skaggs (D-CO) for cutting $17.5 million from Radio and TV Marti. Rep. Skaggs complains, "I was greatly disturbed and saddened that the normal business of this House was subject to these retributive tactics. This is an example of how difficult it is to pull the plug on a program, even one as ineffective as this one." Skaggs believes the programs are unnecessary because Cubans are able to view commercial broadcasts from Florida.
http://cuban-exile.com/doc_126-150/doc0146b.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.rmpbs.org.nyud.net:8090/resources/files/About_RMPBS/Board_of_Directors/David-Skaggs.jpg http://www.krcc.org.nyud.net:8090/krccnews/David%20Skaggs.jpg
Who would not want to see this great Congressman, David Skaggs, have the last laugh, FINALLY?The Washington Post
Monday, February 21, 2000; Page A02
Rifts in Hard Line on Cuba
~snip~
"You know that if you kick the Cuba issue, you're going to have a bad
day," said former representative David Skaggs (D-Colo.), who clashed
with the hard line on Havana, and paid for it with lost funding for his
district. "Other than to about 10 members, it doesn't matter that much.
when there are a few people who will die for the issue, and nobody
else gets anywhere close to that, they can have their way."
(snip)
The general public pays little attention to Cuba issues, said Skaggs, who
joined the Aspen Institute after his 1998 retirement from Congress. But
with the Elian case, he said, the public may have realized that the
hard-liners are "out of sync" with their values. "Maybe this will start to
contribute to some diminishment of their authority generally on Cuba
matters."
(snip)
Those who antagonize the foundation can expect a quick response. The
morning after Skaggs succeeded in temporarily killing funds for TV Marti
in July 1993, he was confronted by an angry Diaz-Balart who, Skaggs said
in an impassioned floor speech that afternoon, threatened "that if I followed
through with my plans, he would do all he could to go after everything he
could find that was important to me."
That same day, Diaz-Balart used a parliamentary "point of order" to ax
millions in federal funds for Skagg's Colorado district, as the foundation
was faxing a gloating press release detailing the maneuver, and the reason
for it, to every major newspaper in the state.
"We only go after people who come after us," Jose Cardenas, the
foundation's Washington director, said in a recent interview.
(snip/...)
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/us-cuba/rifts.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dealing from principle --- ex-Representative Skaggs
However, in 1993, former Representative David Skaggs (D-CO), in an attempt to trim unnecessary budgetary spending targeted for the Martis, was able to convince his House brethren to block funding for the two operations --- a measure which did not meet the same success in the Senate, where it was inevitably defeated. Skaggs paid a high price for his bold move, and came under withering fire from anti-Havana hardliners. Marti’s congressional supporters, led by none other than treasury plunderer Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart responded with a stark warning that revenge would be exacted on those who might threaten the continuation of the Marti operation, making an example of Skaggs by attempting to slash federal funding for projects in his home district. However, Skaggs refused to give up the fight, and he continued his campaign against the project, in particular its television component, until he retired in 1998. Skaggs admitted, "You know that if you kick the Cuba issue, you're going to have a bad day.” As a result of his personal experience, the Miami New Times reported in a November 12, 1998 article that Skaggs bitterly expressed outrage at the “corruption of United States policy that is inherent in our Cuba policy,” explaining, “by corruption I mean the untoward influence of a relatively small segment of the population in Florida and the money that small segment of the population brings to bear, and how it distorts the policy choices this government makes.”
Approximately 1/2 way down the page at
http://cubajournal.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://i.realone.com.nyud.net:8090/assets/rn/img/3/9/0/1/13891093-13891096-slarge.jpg http://www.truthdig.com.nyud.net:8090/images/eartothegrounduploads/ap_cuba_embargo_350.jpg
Diaz-Balart, back row, with his younger, "more" "handsome" brother Mario Diaz-Balart
who was in the Florida House of Representatives and was active in deciding to create
a whole new slate of electors in the event Al Gore won the state election through the recount.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Radio and TV Martí:
Miami’s Children of Scorn
•At a time when the domestic budget is being savaged by meat-cleaver cuts in its social programs, Congress’ FY 2006 appropriations include an outrageous $10 million plane for a failed Radio and TV Martí project
•Funding Radio and TV Martí reveals the unprecedented reach of the rightwing extremist segment of Miami’s Cuban community into the U.S. legislative process and the public purse
•Radio and TV Martí is almost entirely characterized by propagandistic low-quality programming, mismanagement, and a striking inability to reach the intended Cuban island audience
•Miami is able to almost alchemistically convert hundreds of thousands of dollars in private campaign contributions to Republican and even Democratic political campaigns, and in return has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for their initiatives that do nothing else but fuel their ideological passions at the expense of the squandering of public funds that produce no public good
More:
http://www.coha.org/2006/03/radio-and-tv-marti-washington-guns-after-castro-at-any-cost/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As people with family members in Cuba or good friends there, with who they've visited at their homes will tell you, Cubans can pick up radio and tv stations at their own homes, have for many years. Canadian DU'er, Freecancat, no longer with us, said back near the beginning of D.U., that she and anyone else could easily pick up US radio stations on her Walkman walking down the street in Havana, no problem whatsoever.
These Miami creeps' insistance Cubans can't get "the truth" about the US, and the world are deceiving the Americans who haven't checked their stories out yet. They are simply taking advantage of the fact a lot of Americans don't know what's going on there because THEY (Miami & New Jersey reactionary "exiles") are KEEPING THEM OUT.
Cubans even have their own rappers, even girl groups, and have for years. They've been TOTALLY aware of the U.S. culture, and our politics, and current events. They don't need this bogus radio/tv operation (BLACK HOLE PORK PROJECT) as their only chance to get news from the outer world, since they get it all the time, regardless, from here, and Central America, South America, other islands.
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