Reuters Sends Birthday Wishes to Fidel

He may or may not have assumed room temperature, but Cuban dictator Fidel Castro remains No. 1 in the hearts of Reuters.

Castro turns 81 out of sight but still present

HAVANA (Reuters) - As Fidel Castro turns 81 on Monday, Cuba watchers see the ailing leader fading into a role equivalent to China's Mao Zedong as his successors grapple with the need to reform the economy while preserving the Communist state.

Considering Cuba doesn't have an economy, that'll be a neat trick. The state runs everything, poorly I would add, and Communism is incongruous with free-market capitalism.

Castro has been out of sight for a year, but not out of mind, thanks to regular newspaper columns dispatched from a secret medical facility.

He spends his time "meditating in depth on the vital problems that threaten our species today," Castro wrote recently, calling U.S. capitalism a threat to human survival.

Yes, a lot of good U.S. capitalism has done, between feeding the world and being the desired destination of choice for the world's poor, including most of the forlorn residents of the island prison.

The bearded revolutionary, who once toyed with the idea of abolishing money in a classless society, was forced to hand over power to his brother Raul last year after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery.

His illness is secret and his life private. Even his age is debatable. Some say Castro is a year younger than his birth certificate because the document was altered to get the bright boy into school earlier.

I just threw up a bit in my mouth.

This sycophantic drivel continues for three pages.

Reuters should be embarrassed.