Cuba will bid for 2012 Olympics

SF Gate ^ | 11:09 PDT | AP

[Conservative til I die]

What a joke. Maybe they could have them in Yemen in 2016.

[Wormwood]

Nothing so pleases a communist dictator like an influx of tourist dollars.

[Wormwood]

You are leaving the island with less money that you brought.

I call it supporting Castro.

You call it whatever you want.

[Consort]

There will be only one event: The runs.

[Mr. Mojo]

This would be a great site for the Games. By 2012, Cuba should be back to what it was in the early 50's. ....a helluva good time.

[Wormwood]

The Cuban people know all about America. That's why so many risk their lives trying to escape Castro's tyranny.

Castro knows that there are gullible Americans who are willing to pump greenbacks into his economy, all for the priviledge of feeling like celebrities around the 'peasant masses'.

You want nice beaches and honest peasants who'll caper and smile for your dollars? Go to Costa Rica.

You want to help prop up the last dictatorship in our hemisphere? Go to Cuba.

[Wormwood]

And, living in Florida, I believe I know more about the 'Cuban experience' than you think.

We don;t take kindly to those who lend aid and comfort to our enemies.

Your mileage may vary, of course. Give my regards to Fidel.

[Wormwood]

Enjoy your trip, but save the postcard.

Take a layover in North Korea. I hear they could use the cash.

[Wormwood]

;-)

Don't worry about it---I know a few Cubans myself. They don't want my love, they just want their homes and families back.

I suppose they can wait a little while longer while you go slumming.

[Wormwood]

Listen, we can go 'round and round all night.

The simple, undeniable fact (the one you keep skirting) is that you and your entire group is planning on pumping American money into Cuba's economy. Also known as Castro's economy.

Go. Be well. Have a Rum Runner on the beach.

But don't dance around the fact that you *are* supporting Castro. That is a fact, as sure as you would be supporting Chirac with a trip to Euro-Disney. You soak up some culture, Castro (and his regime) are soaking up your American cash.

There are *many* other countries that would gladly accept your tourist dollar.Free countries. It may be your money, but there is also a very real principle that you are ignoring. I cannot define the line between 'goodwill ambassador' and 'communist enabler'. Can you?

[Enemy Of The State]

"Cuba will bid for 2012 Olympics"

[Enemy Of The State]

Where are they going to get any olympians...every cuban that can run, jump or swim is already in the United States.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Cuba's Cruel Joke *** Without dollars, life is grim. People line up at dimly lit government distribution centres, ration books in hand - libretas, the government calls them - for their monthly allocation. The books, which were established in 1962 to "guarantee the equitable distribution of food without privileges for a few," entitle Cubans to 2.5 kilograms of rice, 1 kilogram of fish, 1/2 kilogram of beans, 14 eggs and sundry other basics at subsidized prices. Through the libreta, each Cuban also gets one bread roll a day. Every two months, a Cuban is entitled to one bar of hand soap and one bar of laundry soap. Fresh fruits and vegetables come infrequently; meat might come once or twice a year. Until the mid-1990s, children under seven were entitled to fresh milk, but fresh milk, like butter, cheese and other dairy products, is now off the shelves. Before the revolution, two litres of fresh milk cost 15 U.S. cents, well within the means of the poor.

Cuba, a country with a coffee culture, produces fine beans in its Oriente province, but not for average Cubans. The good stuff is sold to tourists and exported to earn dollars, or reserved for the Cuban elite, while the government imports cheaper beans, grinds them, mixes them with ground chickpeas, and doles out 28 grams per month - less than one ounce - to Cuban citizens. The government also exports high quality Cuban rice for dollars while importing a low-grade rice from Vietnam for its citizens. It exports 90% of its fresh fruits, directing much of the rest to tourists and others who can pay in dollars.***