The Department of Interior has a basketball court?

Why not? The Department of Agriculture has a graduate school.

Can this be possible? The United States' closest ally in South America is Colombia. The fact that Colombia receives billions in aid from the U.S. is highly controversial. Colombia has negotiated a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, whose consideration is long overdue. And now, Colombia faces a military threat not only from a longstanding and potent terrorist insurgency, but also from a military power attempting to destabilize the entire region.

The Hill has an interview with an old associate of mine -- Chris Padilla of the Department of Commerce -- the administration's point man for winning passage of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. He says that no member of the Democratic leadership has agreed to travel to Colombia to study the issue:

Q: Have any members of the leadership gone on these trips?

No.

Q: Is that something that you’d like to see?

They have an open invitation from President [Alvaro] Uribe to go. We encourage every member of Congress who wants to go to go and see for themselves. And not just take the guided tour, but meet with the opponents of the FTA in Colombia, as well as the proponents. And hear both sides and make their own judgment about what the right course for America is. I’m confident that if the judgment is made on the merits, the agreement will pass...

Q: Are you disappointed that you haven’t been able to convince key House Democrats like Charles Rangel [N.Y.], Sandy Levin [Mich.], Nancy Pelosi [Calif.], Steny Hoyer [Md.] or James Clyburn [S.C.] to go on one of these trips?

Well, they have an open invitation to go. I’d be pleased if they would avail themselves of the opportunity. There is still an opportunity to do so if they want to.

Is it any wonder that foreign leaders are saying that the actions of Democratic leaders send the message that 'the United States is an unreliable ally?'

The truth about Castro:

Cuba features a universal health care system, a minuscule 1.9 percent unemployment rate, near-total literacy, complete political "unity" — and hundreds of thousands of people ready to risk their lives to get the hell out.

The other day I expressed surprise that Hugo Chavez had not spoken with Castro since he decided to leave public life. A friend who monitors Latin American politics suggested that the reason Chavez and Castro had not spoken might be that the two leaders are not as close as they once appeared. Cue the news today:

Nevertheless Fidel Castro's brother is quoted saying that Brazil “is a far more convenient associate than Venezuela’s Chavez”, for the transition period...

The Folha de Sao Paulo piece based on data allegedly disclosed by members of the Brazilian government delegation that visited Cuba with the Brazilian president, says that Raul also requested Lula da Silva to convince United States to end the economic embargo dating back to 1962, and which President Bush has made even stricter...

“In the words of one of the ministers, Brazil is one of few countries in the world capable of having a dialogue with the Cuban regime, with Chavez and with the US government”. Besides “he’s far more useful for that purpose than the conflicting Chavez who is at loggerheads with United States and Colombia”.

Raul Castro must recognize that the U.S. embargo is unlikely to be lifted without some sort of real change in Havana. The Bush administration has certainly been clear that Fidel's departure alone means nothing; substantive reforms must follow. Would Raul contemplate reforms?

This also demonstrates how Chavez's star is waning in Latin America: even the Cuban government views him as toxic.

As Continetti noted here earlier, the decision by Fidel Castro to step down has occasioned lots of commentary about how many U.S. presidents and other world leaders he outlasted. Credit where it's due: there's at least one American politician (and as far as I can tell, only one) who has lasted in office longer than Castro: West Virginia Senator Bob Byrd.

Byrd was sworn into office on January 3, 1959 -- more than a month before Castro. And at 90 years young, Byrd is still rendering his energetic service to the good people of West Virginia.

Castro "resigns."