Heavymetal From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (10 years 1 week 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1351 times:
All day we've been treated to pictures of exhausted Cubans treading water next to US Coast Guard boats in futile attempts to summon enough energy to swim to the beaches in the Florida Keys. Why?
Well a year ago, the Coasties would have dragged these people safely out of the water no questions asked. You aren't gonna make it. You're too tired. You're too weak. And yes, there's big sharks around here.
But then the hardcore Cuban exile community in Miami (those loons who brought you Elian') saw some video and decided the Coast Guard was "being too aggressive" with enforcing US immigration policy. So, they rang their Republican friends in Washington.
Now, GOP policy is the Coast Guard has to toss these people life preservers and actually wait until they willingly want to come aboard a boat. See, if a refugee makes dry land, US policy...written by the exiles....is he can stay, no questions asked. If they are picked up at sea, they are shipped back to Cuba, usually through Gitmo.
So....here we are. Your tax money & mine paying Coast Guardsmen to float around waiting on illegal aliens. Meanwhile, I'm sure there's no kind of distress or emergency happening anywhere else in the area, as every CG boat available waits out these poor souls.
Now, before we get into the Saddam-loving liberal accusations, let me be clear.....Castro is a pig and a thug. His regime is repressive and he is a dictator. Things in Cuba are very very bad right now. I feel for these people who are desperate enough to risk their lives for "a better life".
But the only reason they're doing it is they know they have a slim chance at making it. And one of the chief reasons they have to leave Cuba is because of the US embargo on Cuba.
Summary: The embargo is not working in weakening Castro.....only peasants. The immigration policy is not saving people from the oppression of dictatorship, only killing them in scores as they try to take advantage of it.
Drop the embargo. Change the policy.
Of course it will never happen, because the exile community only thinks first of its' hatred for Castro. And they have this mindless devotion to the Republican Party, who "we hate communism"'d them for forty years to get their votes. Meanwhile, the Beard is still there, life in Cuba still sucks......and Saddam Hussein is history.
B757300 From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 4114 posts, RR: 25 Reply 1, posted (10 years 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1299 times:
Sorry to burst your liberal bubble Heavy but the current Cuban refugee policy is a leftover from your hero Klintoon. In 1994 he changed it where only those Cubans who physically set foot on U.S. soil would be allowed to stay. Those who are picked up in the water are returned.
I really should be surprised that people here like and support Castro but then I remember that people here would rather support murderous dictators than the U.S.
777236ER From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (10 years 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1295 times:
And you know who caused world poverty? Clinton. HIV? Clinton invented it! Terrorists? Well, Clinton funded them all. He also made Columbia break up and made them cancel Futurama. Why isn't he in jail?
Captaingomes From Canada, joined Feb 2001, 6413 posts, RR: 58 Reply 3, posted (10 years 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1301 times:
B757300, Heavymetal raises good points, and he did say he does NOT support Castro. Supporting the Cuban people is not the same as supporting Castro. But I guess you are right, the U.S. embargo against Cuba is really working wonders.
"it's kind of like an Airbus, it's an engineering marvel, but there's no sense of passion" -- J. Clarkson re: Coxster
Bobrayner From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2003, 2227 posts, RR: 7 Reply 4, posted (10 years 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1293 times:
I really should be surprised that people here like and support Castro
Yes, you should. Trying to misrepresent people? Heavymetal said: Castro is a pig and a thug. His regime is repressive and he is a dictator.
I'm also very tired of people trying to drag any kind of issue down into the bipolar political mire with things like "your hero Klintoon". There is actually more to global issues than two squabbling parties.
I recently stumbled across one online ranter who tried to pin the blame for all Saddam Hussein's misdeeds on the stinking liberal left because, err, Kennedy was in power when the CIA arranged for Abdel-Karim Qasim to be killed.
Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8357 posts, RR: 47 Reply 7, posted (10 years 1 week 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 1223 times:
"I really should be surprised that people here like and support Castro but then I remember that people here would rather support murderous dictators than the U.S."
Go figure, if you actually read the posts you reply to, you would often make much less of a "misunderstood person" out of yourself: "...let me be clear.....Castro is a pig and a thug." Does this read like "I support and cheer for Castro"?
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Sccutler From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 5092 posts, RR: 28 Reply 10, posted (10 years 1 week 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 1201 times:
Glad to see a well-articulated piece of commentary (Heavymetal's thread-starter) devolve into name-calling and sniping in record time.
No rational review of the effects of US policy towards Cuba (that's "Cuber" for you Kennedys), whether conducted from a "liberal" or "conservative" viewpoint, can possibly conclude other than that the policy is an utter and complete failure. (Quick, diagram that sentence...)
The best way to bring Cuba out of its totalitarian regime would be to lift the embargo, allow free trade, and watch the almighty greenback liberate the Cuban people from their bondage.
If, on the other hand, we (meaning the US, or any other foreign government, including the UN) were to try to compel change, it would work masterfully well.
Not.
...three miles from BRONS, clear for the ILS one five approach...
Marcus From Mexico, joined Apr 2001, 1721 posts, RR: 2 Reply 11, posted (10 years 1 week 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 1201 times:
On of the best things Castro has working for him is the embargo, with that he can blame the US of everything wrong in the island.....he and his top officials do not suffer from it......but the average cuban does.
Kids!....we are going to the happiest place on earth...TIJUANA! signed: Krusty the Clown
WiLdmanVzla From Mexico, joined Sep 2000, 616 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (10 years 1 week 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 1115 times:
The US embargo is the biggest favor americans can do for Fidel Castro... & also for the "gusanos" (the cuban comunity) in Miami... .
Marcus said it right... that embargo helps Castro to say that he´s not guilty for anything that happens in Cuba.
I think the best the US can do is to eliminate the embargo, it will be a good way to show cubans who is the real killer of their people (of course, the killer is Fidel Castro).
Sponsor Message: 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 4114 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From Canada, joined Feb 2001, 6413 posts, 
From Mexico, joined Apr 2001, 1721 posts, 
From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8357 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
