No country for young men

For those of you who may have missed it watching that other awards show Sunday night, the post of Cuba’s maximum leader went to one Raul Castro, 76, in a unanimous vote that must have surprised no one. Apparently even "El Comandante" voted for him by absentee ballot. Jose Ramon Machado, 76, will be his first vice president. Juan Almeida Bosque, Abelardo Colomi Ibarra, Carlos Lage Davila, Esteban Lazo Hernandez and Julio Casas Regueiro will round out the rest of the vice prez posse. Ricardo Alarcón, 70, was re-elected president of the National Assembly. The long-time leader of Cuba’s military dressed tastefully in a suit and tie, eschewing traditional military fatigues which are now so out of fashion, when he addressed the assembly. Raul is promising a more democratic government, but says that the Communist party is the guarantee of the Cuban nation. I guess you don’t have to worry about thanking the academy when your’s is the only name on the ballot.