In late April, I attended the Oslo Freedom Forum, which featured many former political prisoners. I casually mentioned to the organizers — and to readers — “It would be interesting to tote up all the years they spent in prison. It would be a big number.” Well, I thought of this when reading something interesting yesterday. There is a congressman from Minnesota named Collin Peterson (Democrat). He’s chairman of the Agriculture Committee. And like a lot of “aggies,” and others, he opposes American sanctions on the Cuban government. He has a bill to repeal them. And he said something really stupid. He said that “people who oppose this bill are not speaking on behalf of the Cuban people, regardless of what they say.” Uh-huh. Well, 256 Cuban former political prisoners sent a letter to Peterson, telling him he was full of it. (You can find that letter here.) And someone toted up the number of years they spent in prison — spent in the Cuban gulag: 3,551. Kind of a big ol’ number. I will leave comment on Representative Peterson’s bill for another time (although I have commented on this issue a lot). But I hope, given all those ex-prisoners, all those who paid so much, he feels at least a little chastened. Maybe even ashamed? (Memo to itchy-fingers: Please don’t write me about the “embargo.” I have studied this issue — the pros and cons, and the ins and outs –for many years. And we all have so much to do. Thank you, bless you!)