Heroes of the 20th century fade

The official commentary surrounding Castro's death was predictably obfuscatory and ideologically driven. As Galbraith once said, in one of his more frisky moods, "The only socialism permitted in American is socialism for the rich." That said, the official discourse refused to recognize two of Castro's singular accomplishments. The first is the remarkable emergency response network he developed and personally coordinated to mediate the effects of the increasingly ferocious, climate-change driven Caribbean hurricane season. The second involves Castro's embrace, in the collapse of the USSR and its oil subsidies to Cuba (and the attendant economic havoc), of the concept and processes of permaculture. Cuba now stands as a model of small and community farming, and is in this sense one of the most Green countries on Earth. We, of course, heard nothing about this on National Public radio.