[Mister Blond]

Who's to say it wasn't all about getting Elien here so they could claim him for Welfare payments?

Not saying that's the case, just trying to make a point by using an outragous example. I don't think any of us know all the truth in this situation. I guess the only thing that could have made us all happy is if his father had decided to stay here in America with Elian. But since he didn't, I say he's got the right to raise his son.

[laredo44]

Two questions for the topic genius.

1. Do you agree we all have inalienable rights?

2. Does anyone have the authority to bargain away the rights of another?

[Green Knight]

Who's to say it wasn't all about getting Elien here so they could claim him for Welfare payments?

Nobody sacrifices their life for Welfare payments. And whatever the case, you gotta give the benefit of the doubt to people who're FLEEING AN OPPRESSIVE DICTATORSHIP! Geeze, what part of "Communist Dictatorship" do you NOT understand?

I don't think any of us know all the truth in this situation.

No, some of us know the truth of the situation. Others are either ignorant of the truth, or willfully blind themselves to the truth in order to not have to admit that they supported something which was terribly wrong.

I guess the only thing that could have made us all happy is if his father had decided to stay here in America with Elian. But since he didn't, I say he's got the right to raise his son.

And the likelihood that he was threatened by Castro makes no nevermind to you? But hey, this is Fidel Castro, after all. The good friend of Danny Glover and Steven Speilberg. He COULDN'T be a brutal dictator. We MUST assume the best from him at all times.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Let's review some known facts about Fidel Castro's Cuba.

Q: What does Fidel's Cuba have in common with jails and concentration camps?

A: The people in charge shoot you when you try to leave.

Q: What happens to people who express an idea that does not fall in line with Castro's ideas?

A: Ask the seventy-five independent journalists and dissidents Castro threw in jail for speaking out against his policies in 2003?

Here's what we do know beyond the shadow of a doubt:

• People in Cuba are afraid to take a stance contrary to Castro's policies.
• Castro had Juan Miguel's parents, his wife's parents, and her children by an earlier marriage "sequestered".

In the absence of an absolute certainty that we know what Juan Miguel truly wanted, and faced with the undeniable fact that parental rights are voided by the Cuban Constitution, then Justice must concern itself with the rights of Elian Gonzalez.

And Elian Gonzalez as a human being, has a right to be free.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Who's to say it wasn't all about getting Elien here so they could claim him for Welfare payments?"

The people who you insult with that ridiculous post, had their home invaded by Federal agents brandishing weapons, their lives disrupted, their belongings broken, and in spite of all that, Marisleysis Gonzalez had the strength of resolve to look into television cameras belonging to every major news outlet in the world, and say that Bill Clinton had "dishonored his family in Washington. He dishonored the White House. Now he has dishonored my family and he has dishonored America."

That's a whole lot to do for less than a hundred bucks a month in child welfare payments, and a whole lot more courage than most people would display under similar circumstances.