FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794
Send PayPal direct to JimRob@psnw.com
Posted on 03/03/2002 6:26:29 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Edited on 04/13/2004 1:39:16 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
In Beijing, Bush called China our ''partner.'' Cuba officially is our ''enemy.'' Why?
Because a small number of powerful exiles in South Florida cow our politicians into keeping the crazy Cuban policy. That was designed to castrate Fidel Castro and has failed for more than 40 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...
The enemy of freedom: Al Neuharth, founder of Freedom Forum, Salutes Elian
Media Research Center's in depth study using the media's own words: Back to the "Peaceable" Paradise: Media Soldiers for the Seizure of Elian
Al Neuharth: Most U.S. citizens are denied their constitutional right to travel to Cuba.
A special ''license'' from the U.S. Treasury Department is possible, but very difficult to get.
Why doesn't Castro let Cubans freely travel? Maybe Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today daily newspaper and the Freedom Forum should come down on Castro's communist oppression. Maybe all the news personalities that sit on the board of Al Neuharth's Freedom Forum need to come clean on why they pushed Elian back into Castro's arms.
Vicki Huddleston Q&A: Veteran leader speaks about dissidents, Castro and the U.S. role--[Excerpt]
Q: Should travel restrictions to Cuba be lifted?
A: The problem with the lifting of travel restrictions is that the Cubans control it because they issue the visas. They can put quotas. They can decide to allow only the tourists going to Varadero and Cayo Coco and ensure they have very little contact with the Cuban people. And all that will do, initially, is fill the government coffers and build up the regime. It's ironic because what you need is for the government to respond to the current economic crisis by opening up, by letting Cubans own and operate their own businesses, by letting them invest, letting them stay at hotels. [In Cuba,] the economy is shrinking. It is too dependent on tourism and remittances. Their way of fixing the problem is to fill up the hotels. A far preferable way . . . would be to grow the economy by letting the people invest in their community by starting small businesses -- not just restaurants and taxis and services, but also . . . creating products. You have natural capitalists in Cuba, and the proof of that is in the cars they have and how they take care of them. If allowed to work independently, they would create wealth through their own labor . . . [End Excerpt]
Furthermore, given the fact that China has 14 million in slave labor camps and executes thousands of citizens every year, what is more evil about China than Cuba? China has nuclear weapons aimed at US cities. Cuba does not.
The embargo has not worked in Cuba. Please give us a rational reason for continuing the policy.
Because there isn't enough slave labor in Cuba to keep Nike's, et al's, profits high?
But to your question. Why should the American taxpayers foot the bill for trade with Castro, giving tacit approval to his regime
and freeing up his ill gotten gains (90% of all wages) to sponsor international terrorism?
What do you see happening if the embargo is lifted?
Trade is a two way street and is also a fundamental right of being alive. The Congress doesn't have the right to prohibit trade and I defy you to find that power listed anywhere in Article 1 Section 8 where their power is defined.
There is no taxpayer cost to trading with Cuba other than the goods and services that they might purchase.
If the rationale that is posited about trade with China is correct (that it actually helps bring China into relations with the world and in effect "corrupts" their communist ideals) then the same can be said for Cuba. Turning a communist nation into a capitalist nation is bad why?
Why hasn't this happened before now? Castro can trade with the rest of the world. Many countries did.
Second, I see Castro's biggest excuse for his failure taken off the table.
He can substitute another one. Who's going to object?
Castro's main argument against the US for 40 years has been the Embargo. He is 100% PRO-Embargo.
Maybe now you can defend the Embargo, the one Castro relies on and supports more than any other person on earth.
This guy had no problem making the switch over to capitalism -- he was smart and had a great work ethic. According to him, about 70% of Cubans hate their government. The school teachers are all communists and the people know it and secretly think they're nuts. The pro-government rallies are all staged events with forced participation.
At least this is so according to this fellow, and he seemed abundantly trustworthy to me. He was completely untouched by any government communist indoctrination. He was an independant thinker, skeptical of the government, moral and hardworking -- the perfect conservative capitalist, really. If he's an indication of what Cubans are like, then I think Cuba must be just waiting to pop, in need only of a nudge in the right direction.
I'm not sure what to think about the embargo. I wish I had asked David what he thought about it. My feeling is that we should lift it, but I can also see that doing so might just enrich the government. I don't know. What keeps the Cuban people complacent, and how could it be undermined?
Apparently you haven't been following this very closely. Cubans are not permitted to engage in "self enrichment" and Castro does not work on a cash and carry basis. Castro expects the goods up front and gives his IOU. Castro has said he won't "trade" with the U.S. until he can get the deals "financed." Let me tell you Demigog, that means we, the consumers and the taxpayers (if the loans are backed by the govt.) will foot the bill.
Here's one man that is currying Castro's favor.
Venezuela · Chavez has insisted that oil sales continue to Cuba, despite an unpaid $97 million bill for past sales.--Source
If that is satisfactory with the companies who trade there then it is their choice. That can in no way be construed to be a burden on the American taxpayer. I am not obligated to bail out some company that agrees to those stipulations and then goes belly up. Sorry that you think this is so.
Darn those exiles for fleeing here! Darn them again for voting! If it wasn't for them we could have a workers' paradise on our doorstep!
I think 40 years of communist oppression and propaganda of the Castro's regime have broken the back of the people.
I think playing into his hands only tightens his grip on any life left in those left and why President Bush will stand in their stead.
Don't be misled, President Bush is not soft on Cuba--"The American President's outburst sets right some misconceptions in Havana, at the U.S. State Department and on Capitol Hill. The word has been spread that under Secretary of State Colin Powell's tutelage, Bush was going to seek normalization with Castro's dictatorial regime. While the trade embargo may be modified, it will continue and will no longer be the only instrument deployed by Washington to democratize Cuba. What's more, Powell is fully on board with an expanded anti-Castro strategy."
BUSH. ...I want to say something about Cuba in our hemisphere. There are some folks in our country who believe we ought to trade with Cuba. I don't. I think that would be wrong-headed. I think it's be a mistake. Capital that goes into Cuba will be used by the Fidel Castro government to prop itself up. There is a commission-type system in Cuba. Dollars invested will be dollars that will end up supporting this totalitarian regime. It's in our best interests for us to promote freedom in the island right off the coast of Florida. It's in our best interest to keep the pressure on Fidel Castro until he allows free elections, free press and free the prisoners in that island. And for those Americans that believe that trade with Cuba will cause Castro to become less totalitarian, in my judgment are naïve and wrong.
BAUER. Governor, you just made the case for withdrawing most favored nation status from China.
BUSH. I did not.
BAUER. Everything that you just said about Cuba applies to China.
BUSH. Let me answer that. Let me answer that.
RUSSERT. The difference between China and Cuba.
BUSH. May I answer that please?
RUSSERT. Please.
BUSH. There is a huge difference, a huge difference between trading with an entrepreneurial class like that which is growing in China and allowing a Fidel Castro government to skim capital moneys off the top of capital investment. There's a huge difference, a huge difference.
BAUER. Governor, one-third of the trade with China is with companies controlled by the People's Liberation Army.
BUSH. Gary.
BAUER. You know that and I know that. Tell the people rotting in the prisons of China that there's any difference between Castro's Cuba and Communist China. There is none.
BUSH. Let me say this. If we turn our back on the entrepreneurial class that is taking wing in China, we're making a huge mistake. If we turn our back on those that have gotten a whiff of freedom as a result of the marketplace taking hold, we're making a big mistake.
BAUER. Listen, I --
BUSH. We're making a big mistake. We're making a big mistake.
BAUER. The People's Liberation is O.K.?
BUSH. No it's not. I'm talking about the entrepreneurial class that is growing in the country of China.
BAUER. Sir, they are using that money for a massive arms buildup that our sons will have to deal with down the road.
BUSH. Only if you're the president.
BAUER. You can't be tough on China and not on --
BUSH. If I'm the president --
(BOTH TALKING AT ONCE)
RUSSERT. Mr. Bauer. Mr. Bauer, Mr. Bush. Let me move to another area...
I'm not arguing by the way, just wondering why you think this.
Ahh, I see. You are pro Embargo simply to prevent American companies from getting ripped off by Castro. Are you going to send them a bill for your consultative advice? I'm sure they'd be quite appreciative for saving them millions in bad business deals they wanted to undertake, lol.
And as for the company taking losses, it reminds me of shoplifters' gains being paying consumers' higher costs.
The embargo should be lifted on Cuba or we should treat China in a similar fashion, but we won't because China has bought and paid for our foreign policy and Cuba cannot.
Answer at Post# 32. What are they teaching in U.S. public schools?
So you would prop up Castro's regime to make this right?
I don't believe that the Bush administration is doing this. And as a matter of fact, In Florida, Bush announced that he had "streamlined" the SBA in order that businesses could get loans even faster than ever. If that is "denying government backed business loans" you have a funny idea about what constitutes government-backed loans I'm afraid.
I'm glad to see you repudiate corporate welfare however. And as to the higher prices argument, you are free not to do business with high-priced stores.
I know that there are many Exiles who would never even consider sending a penny back to Cuba. I would venture to say 80%+ of Exiles would never consider sending a cent back, until Castro is gone.
If you think China is okay, then why not?
Seriously, if you have no problem with China then what's so bad about Cuba?
It all in your head.. It's all emotional.
Excellent debate. /sarc
I have never said this, nor would I.
Maybe that jerk could move to Canada, where the people just love traveling to Cuba, and write glowing reviews in Canadian travel mags.
Again, I'm certain that the companies that want to trade in Cuba are ever grateful for you letting them know they won't get paid. After all, they have no clue on making sure they get paid by their customers.
Invest their own money and so on and so forth..
It's ridiculous.
Where is this equivalency argument coming from? The Buchanan-area of the spectrum? (honest question)
If it is, then wouldn't our Cuba policy be closer to the anti-"foreign entanglement" positions he espouses?
"Seriously, if you have no problem with [sex] then what's so bad about [rape]?"
Vicki Huddleston Q&A: Veteran leader speaks about dissidents, Castro and the U.S. role
Don't be misled, President Bush is not soft on Cuba--"The American President's outburst sets right some misconceptions in Havana, at the U.S. State Department and on Capitol Hill. The word has been spread that under Secretary of State Colin Powell's tutelage, Bush was going to seek normalization with Castro's dictatorial regime. While the trade embargo may be modified, it will continue and will no longer be the only instrument deployed by Washington to democratize Cuba. What's more, Powell is fully on board with an expanded anti-Castro strategy."
DITTO!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.