My Dear Cuba

[bigmack]

B.O. has lightened travel restrictions to Cuba. Brother Fidel is laying off a half a million G-workers by the end of March and another half a mill in a year. Face it Fidel, it ain't workin'. Those great people deserve much mo' betta.

Mackalopolus has been a BIG fan of Cuban music for years. Won't be long now, Chickenhead will be driving me around in a sidecar on a vintage motorcy through the street of Havana going to a jazz club smokin' a fatty.

Mentally I am Cuban. :cool:

6rRJP8rVg-4

[bigmack]

Yo, PA, whatcha got the "edited by" time dialed down to; 4 seconds?

[lamboguy]

he didn't do a thing. you could get to cuba all you wanted by going through canada or mexico and alot of other south american countries.

[bigmack]

he didn't do a thing. you could get to cuba all you wanted by going through canada or mexico and alot of other south american countries.
Thank you, Don Pardo. Could I get a layover in Iceland as well?

The Obama administration has relaxed travel restrictions and remittances to Cuba, just as its communist President, Raúl Castro, seems to be liberalising its economy, although the long-standing embargo remains in place.

On Friday, the US government announced the widest loosening of travel restrictions since President Bill Clinton, deepening the so-called “people-to-people” provisions...http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1d5f9bc-20d8-11e0-a877-00144feab49a.html#axzz1B9vBdKGQ

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u70/macktime/alot.png

[ArlJim78]

I happened to catch Buena Vista Social Club recently and was blown away by the music.

[Rookies]

Ho Hum. Canadians have been going to Cuba since the late 70s and in defiance of any U.S. bans. This year may mark the million person tourist figure.

My youngest is off in 3 weeks.

[PaceAdvantage]

Yo, PA, whatcha got the "edited by" time dialed down to; 4 seconds?I haven't changed a thing...it's the same as it's always been.

[bigmack]

Canadians have been going to Cuba since the late 70s and in defiance of any U.S. bans.
Let me get this straight, Canada is in defiance of a US ban? :confused:

I haven't changed a thing...it's the same as it's always been.
I must have been hallucinating when I read you were playing with the time a while back. :blush:

[PaceAdvantage]

I must have been hallucinating when I read you were playing with the time a while back. :blush:I might have been, but that was a WHILE back... :lol:

[Rookies]

Let me get this straight, Canada is in defiance of a US ban? :confused:



Bone up on your 20th century world history and get back to us, will you ? From Republican Prez Nixon on, the U.S. tried to muscle Canadian Prime Ministers and pols to fall in line-especially regarding personal travel.

We did not!

Indeed, Canadians are well loved by Cubans, especially because tourists often bring staples ( i.e. soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) to the locals to get around that almost 50 year ban.

[bigmack]

I might have been, but that was a WHILE back... :lol:
My long term memory is intact. Mind like a steel trap. Clearly no brain damage in this camp much to my attempt. :jump:

Bone up on your 20th century world history and get back to us, will you ?
The defiant Kanooks. :ThmbUp: Any policies of Hungary you hockey pucks snubbin'? :lol:

[Tom]

Yeah, and they all come here to shop and see doctors....must be hell living in a snow and ice wasteland - anywhere else looks better.

Always thought we should crack down on our northern border as well.
Not too late.

[Robert Goren]

Travel restriction to Cuba have been a joke for years. I have lost count of the number of times a Nebraska governor has been there on a trade mission. Johanns(now senator then governor) went there a couple months before he became the AG Secretary for Bush.

[Rookies]

Yeah, and they all come here to shop and see doctors....must be hell living in a snow and ice wasteland - anywhere else looks better.

Are you kidding ? We've got huge shares of the world's: Oil & Gas, Wood, Wheat, Potash & most importantly - fresh H2O + socialized medicine. We're keepin' that basket case Western NY economy alive through cross border shopping.;)

Always thought we should crack down on our northern border as well.
Not too late.


That hoary old chestnut:lol: :lol:

[Tom]

No ribs for you.

[BlueShoe]

Indeed, Canadians are well loved by Cubans, especially because tourists often bring staples ( i.e. soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) to the locals to get around that almost 50 year ban.
Have been told by a pretty savvy source that in exchange for these hard to get items, the Cuban young women often express their gratitude in a most friendly manner! :lol:

[Dave Schwartz]

A good friend of mine who has been to Cuba several times on "mission trips" told me that one of the hardest commodities to come by for common folk is paper.

The theory is that if the populace has no paper to print upon they will not be able to organize objections very well.


I found this most interesting.

[bigmack]

Travel restriction to Cuba have been a joke for years. I have lost count of the number of times a Nebraska governor has been there on a trade mission. Johanns(now senator then governor) went there a couple months before he became the AG Secretary for Bush.
You base your opinion of travel restriction to the traveling habits of a State Governor? You are one confused Nebraskan, let alone goofy amongst those with a pulse.

[woodtoo]

[QUOTE=bigmack]My long term memory is intact. Mind like a steel trap. Clearly no brain damage in this camp much to my attempt. :jump:

nuthin gets in or out :D

[Robert Goren]

You base your opinion of travel restriction to the traveling habits of a State Governor? You are one confused Nebraskan, let alone goofy amongst those with a pulse.It is Governors When elected officials from the reddest of red state have been ignoring them for over twenty five years, it might be time to give up the ship. I doubt if Nebraska is the only state who has had its Governor visit Cuba. Trade is supposed to embargoed, but that doesn't stopped Nebraska from sending ag products there. The governors' visits were to promote that trade.

[Rookies]

A good friend of mine who has been to Cuba several times on "mission trips" told me that one of the hardest commodities to come by for common folk is paper.

The theory is that if the populace has no paper to print upon they will not be able to organize objections very well.


I found this most interesting.

1/2 correct, Dave.

But actually, it's TOILET paper that has become a luxury-necessity due to the blockades. Didn't metnion that specifically, but Canadians have brought that too.

Not sure, if that is used by anti Fidel activists to write on... :rolleyes: ;)

[Dave Schwartz]

Rook,

Make light of this if you will but think for a moment - how do you ever get a rebellion started without being able to hand out fliers of events.

Don't take my word for it. Ask one of your friends who is going to Cuba to put a couple of reams of printer paper in their luggage and watch the reaction they get.


Dave

[Tom]

...how do you ever get a rebellion started without being able to hand out fliers of events.

A lot easier than starting one without toilet paper, I would guess! :eek: YxWS-XG2HAU&feature=related

[skate]

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AZ062A_CUBAD_NS_20110114184209.jpg


Doctors here make WHAT? bout $30,000/month. In Cuba they get from $100 to $1500/per month.

We have a shortage in Docs, but Cube can supply the world...daah, ca pasa amigo.

[Rookies]

Rook,

Make light of this if you will but think for a moment - how do you ever get a rebellion started without being able to hand out fliers of events.
Dave

Dave, I don't align myself with those who say that Cuba is a socialist, worker's paradise. It is not and most certainly there have been suppression of liberties, which have led to the desire for change. Nothing new here.

Nor should it be news as to Fidel's predececessor, one of the most corrupt, brutal, dictators of the modern world. My opinion agrees with this fellow:

" I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination, where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, in part owing to my country’s policies during the Batista regime. I approved the proclamation which Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption. I will even go further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we shall have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear."

JFK

Which is to say, that I don't believe for a second that the Cuban people wish to completely overturn the Cuban revolution; refine it, allow mixed economic models, certainly restore democracy, depose the Castos. Further, I also believe that the vast majority of the population, (outside of the scum that backed Batista) supported Castro for at least the first half of being installed El Presidente. Now, not so much.

[Steve 'StatMan']

Indeed, Canadians are well loved by Cubans, especially because tourists often bring staples ( i.e. soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) to the locals to get around that almost 50 year ban.


Have been told by a pretty savvy source that in exchange for these hard to get items, the Cuban young women often express their gratitude in a most friendly manner! :lol:

Hopefully they express that gratitude after having used some of those staples, esp. the soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. :D

[JustRalph]

related subj,

http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2009/04/15/2009-04-15_luis_tiants_emotional_return_to_cuba_on_film.ht ml

you can learn a little about cuba and how they live by watching this documentary. If you are a baseball fan of the 70's, you will really like it.

Netflix has it too.....

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Lost_Son_of_Havana/70117052?trkid=2361637#height1285

A comment from a Netflix review:

this documentary is like watching a Luis Tiant home movie. There is no attempt to glamorize any aspect of the story. Luiss emotions are captured and the reunion with his family is touching. Watching this I have one major emotion besides sadness. I would like to grab the likes of Danny Glover, Sean Penn, and the others who idolize Castro and the communist system in Cuba and just slap the snot out of them, tie them up, and float them on a raft to Cuba. How in the world can they speak so lovingly of a man who has stripped an entire country of everything. All of their money, liberty, and hope. Hollywood should be completely and totally ashamed of their glorification of Fidel Castro. They are given 15 days of food and have to fend for themselves for the rest of the month. Go live there Glover and Penn - you make me sick.

[Dave Schwartz]

Rookies,

Understand that I was not commenting on anyone's opinion of Cuban politics. I was merely stating what I am confident is true.

However, to me, it is unfathomable how any well-read person can say that Cuba is not a socialist state. By every definition I have ever heard it is precisely that.


Being from south Florida and having been married to someone from Havana in the 1960's, I am not totally unaware of the situation that brought Castro "down from the mountains" to overthrow Batista. Neither am I ignorant of the U.S. involvement with the Batista regime.

Truthfully, the Cuban/Castro situation - all 50+ years of it - is probably a great example of what happens when a country becomes socialistic: the promise of a better life for the worker bee just never seems to materialize.


Just my opinion.

Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[PhantomOnTour]

Levantate Cubano!

[Tom]

Wasn't he one of the Falling Wallenda's?
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[BlueShoe]

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AZ062A_CUBAD_NS_20110114184209.jpg


Doctors here make WHAT? bout $30,000/month. In Cuba they get from $100 to $1500/per month.

We have a shortage in Docs, but Cube can supply the world...daah, ca pasa amigo.
But, but Michael Moore says that Cuban health care is wonderful, far superior to that in the US!:liar: I mean, Mr. Moore could not possibly be wrong, could he? After all, he is a liberal, and liberals always know best, right? :rolleyes:

[skate]

But, but Michael Moore says that Cuban health care is wonderful, far superior to that in the US!:liar: I mean, Mr. Moore could not possibly be wrong, could he? After all, he is a liberal, and liberals always know best, right? :rolleyes:

welp, Blue...i'm not sure, but aside from the Lib/Conservative dealings and staying with an economical/health care issue, i'd say that for the very best in Health Care, go to the USA, so the point here is that "IF YOU can afford the High Bill" you're better off in the USA.

Cuba is Producing more doctors, per capita, than any other country and these doctors are going outside cuba, which gives cuba an income source.

If you can not afford the high cost of health care, then you are better off in Cuba.

Bottom line, for me, is the fact that the USA should produce Many More doctors, then those that can not (now) afford health care, will be able to afford health care.

The many doctors coming from Cuba, will somewhat solve the problem.

[Dave Schwartz]

From what I have heard, once you get a medical degree in Cuba you are not permitted to leave the country easily.

[newtothegame]

Cuba's Raul Castro admits mass lay-offs behind schedule

Cuba's plans to lay off half a million state workers by the end of March are behind schedule, President Raul Castro has acknowledged.

Mr Castro, quoted by state television, said the timetable for the cuts would be altered to soften their impact.

The redundancies form part of plans to revive Cuba's struggling economy, an issue due to be discussed at a rare Communist Party Congress in April.

The Cuban government currently employs about 85% of the official workforce.

President Castro, addressing a joint meeting of his cabinet and the Council of State, said given the lay-offs were behind schedule, the timeline would be adjusted, state television reported.

"A job of this magnitude which will affect so many citizens in one way or another cannot be marked by inflexible timetables," the report quoted him as saying.

Privileges
President Castro did not give a new target date for the planned redundancies, saying only that the overhaul of the economy would take at least five years.

He again insisted that the reforms would "leave nobody behind".

Last September, Mr Castro announced plans to lay off about a million state employees - about a fifth of the workforce - with half the jobs going by 31 March.

This would have been just three weeks before the first congress of the ruling Communist Party in 14 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12606044

more at link provided

[boxcar]

The Cuban government currently employs about 85% of the official workforce.

This is the secret, unstated goal of the BO administration. Move as many "workers" (proletariat) unto the plantation as possible.

Boxcar

[delayjf]

( i.e. soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) to the locals to get around that almost 50 year ban.

If they are banned then that's Castro's doing, the US has an embargo in place not a blockade - they can't get toothpast, shampo, soap, and toilet paper from China or Russia???