Unlike in the Metrodome, there will be no return of Batista

Though you've probably already heard, Castro resigned today.

I think this is a good moment to counter a few points of official U.S. propaganda.

While Cuba has it's fair share of problems, it is a tiny island nation under embargo from more than half the world for the last 50 years. However, even after it lost support from the Soviet Union, it still managed to have higher literacy rates and lower infant mortality rates than the United States.

Think about that: a tiny iselnd, constantly under military threat, with little access to foreign goods or supplies, does a better job education and taking care of its citizenry than does the most powerful and richest nation on the planet.

Just further proof that socialism doesn't work, I suppose.

But how did they acheive these marvelous results with little money and few supplies? It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that both education and healthcare are universally free throughout Cuba. Apparently not having to choose between eating and getting medication improves people's health. But to be fair, who amongst us could have seen that coming?

And on a final note, could we maybe just out of temporary kindness stop calling him a dictator? The U.S. has tried to kill him on multiple occassions (my favorite being through a C.I.A. planted exploding cigar). Oh, and by "multiple occassions" I mean "at least 638 documented times."

If the Cuban people tired of Castro and his oh-so-despotic ways, they would have been the most well-funded and armed rebellion in the history of the world. Yet they chose not to. Maybe it had something to do with the far-better health care they were receiving. Or maybe it was the free housing and education. Or maybe they simply prefer the Cuba Libre the way it is and don't want to have to come up with a new mixed drink. Who knows?

But in the end, it comes down to the fact that he stepped down. Not because of military pressure, not because of growing threats at home, not because of a coup. Because he's retiring. How many dictators in world history have you ever heard of saying "Well, that's about enough for me. Think I'll just give up ultimate power and move into a retirement home." My guess is that it's zero, because dictators don't do that.

Don't get me wrong, the guy's had his share of problems. I mean, he did grant himself the right to detain citizens and decalre their constitutional rights null and void at his discretion, he authorized expansive spying programs aimed at his own citizens, he's clamped down on all forms of dissent, and even went so far as to illegally invade a sovereign nation in defiance of international law and the opinion of the rest of the world, he...oh, wait...well, I'm sure Fidel did something bad, too.